Logikworx
While I was not privy to the phone call fielded by Kevin Turner, I’m going to assume it took place as follows (the Apple side of the conversation only):
Hello Microsoft,
We would like you to pull your ‘Laptop Hunter’ ads because, well, they are hurting our feelings.
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This article previously appeared in the July 2009 issue of The Interlocutor.
The developers signed off on it, Steve Sinofsky likes it, Ballmer is doing cartwheels, and Bill Gates must be pleased.
Ladies and gentlemen, the best ever versions of the Microsoft Windows client, known as Microsoft Windows 7, and the best version yet of Windows Server, the eponymous Windows Server 2008 R2, have been released to manufacturing, or RTM.
This is truly good news.
I have a task ahead of me once my super-secret copies of the RTM discs arrive: personally updating the systems I use, at the Orbiting O’Odua, at MedikLabs, and at my offices at Logikworx and LogikLabs.
My staff is waiting to do the same for our internal-use systems at Logikworx, and we are going to have five businesses, representing our most bleeding edge of guinea pigs clients, ready to go with Windows 7 on Day 1 of public release.
Congratulations to Microsoft on this development. Special thanks to Steve Sinofsky and the entire Windows dev team.
More on this story as it develops.
Prior to the release of Norton Internet Security 2009 in September of last year, and the subsequent release of the Norton 360 Suite, Symantec’s Norton products had such a reputation for bloat, resource hungriness, and being a general factor in system disorder, that most IT professionals had stopped recommending them for their consumer and SMB clients.
However, subsequent to the release of Symantec NIS2009, it has been a feel-good-fest about the Norton Internet Security products and Symantec.
A few questions had to be asked:
At the start of June 2009, I was invited to Symantec’s Culver City, California offices, and given the opportunity to speak, totally unfettered, with senior members of the consumer Norton Internet Security products.
I have come away from that meeting with a lot more respect for Symantec the company, and what they have been able to accomplish in turning things around.
Symantec’s Culver City, California Building
Located just east of the Culver City Mall, the Symantec offices here is located in a brand-new, LEED Gold-certified building.
This is a high security building. Everywhere in it demands that you authenticate yourself before access is granted. Or denied. Everywhere!
One in, we are led to a conference room, where introductions are made.
The Meetings with Symantec’s Norton Security Brain Trust
Including Sondra Magness, Symantec Public Relations Manager, who convened the event, Symantec attendees included:
In all, a very senior level meeting.
We are then informed that the sessions for the day would include us asking anything we want.
“Yeah, right!” thought yours truly.
Why? My (jaded) experience had taught me that quite a few companies talk up a good game, but are unfortunately unable to back that up when it counts.
I would later find out that I was wrong in thinking Symantec was one of those companies.
Over the next several hours, we proceeded to be informed, and allowed to ask questions about not only the shipping product, but also the future product roadmap, and strategy.
While most of the answers are under a strict Non-Disclosure Agreement, or NDA, that I had agreed to, I can say here that not one of our questions went unanswered.
This is quite true: all our questions were answered!
The scope of the forthrightness of Symantec was unprecedented for me. Over the nearly two decades I have been in this business, and nearly three decades’ experience with computers, I have asked several questions of several highly placed sources in virtually all the ‘big’ companies over the years, and those very questions have been deflected if the correct answers differed from ‘the company line’.
Suffice it to say, I am impressed.
While the resultant effect of that NDA is that I have to be sufficiently obtuse in my answers here, I can say without equivocation that the questions I had put forth at the start of this post were answered, which I will share with you as best as I can.
Make sure the Perception ≠ the reality
I repeat: make sure the perception is NOT the reality!
In Internet Time, a misstep is quite often fatal.
For a product specifically created to provide border security for users’ web browsing and connectivity, the Symantec consumer security products, had gone off in several tangents, acquiring bloat – in the name of increased functionality, becoming resource hungry, and generally suffering from the sort of malaise that inflicts products where their focus has strayed from the original mission.
That is not good.
It is, however, reassuring to see that Symantec took this perception of the Norton family of security product’s slowly turning into a piece of excrement — in some people’s minds — becoming a reality very seriously, and better than that, acted swiftly.
In January of 2008 at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show, or CES 2008 in Las Vegas, I had the opportunity to dine with Rhonda Shantz of Symantec, where she proceeded to tell a very skeptical me that the next version of Norton Internet Security (v2009) would restore my faith in the product. Her money quote, “We have re-architected the product from the ground up.”
I disbelieved her. My mea culpa to that disbelief is here. http://bit.ly/17Qedg
In January of this year, Symantec Public Relations Manager, Sondra Magness, invited me to a dinner, at CES 2009 in Las Vegas, where I had the opportunity to ask Rowan Trollope, Senior Vice President at Symantec, about the change in fortunes for NIS.
His simple answer: he told his staff what he wanted the NIS2009 product to be, and told them to make it so.
Pretty telling.
Here are the things he didn’t do:
He took the telemetry coming in, added the growing crescendo of customer angst, and decided that on that course, the Norton brand was on the path to reputational suicide, a one-way trip in this Internet Age.
He made a decision, and charged his staff with producing. In the process not only saving, but also resuscitating the Norton brand.
For which I am sure Peter Norton is pleased.
Innovation is alive and well at Symantec
Regular readers of this blog know my position on innovation: without it, YOU WILL FAIL. Always.
Well, as with companies such as Samsung, Microsoft, and GE, Symantec understands this. Furthermore, unlike those companies (except Samsung, which has a self-imposed shelf date), Symantec’s security products have a marketplace-determined end-of-life date: the last day of each year.
As a result, Symantec is on the proverbial treadmill. Mix in the nefarious miscreants trying to undermine our collective computing experience, and you would start to understand the scale of the burden they shoulder.
In this morass, however, Symantec is steadfast about innovation. They are not standing still.
From product development, to future goals and strategies, I saw moves designed to keep the customer, in this case the end user, in control.
While we all know the little things that make NIS2009 a joy to use, from the swift install, to the little memory footprint, to the little CPU usage meter in NIS2009 that shows both system CPU usage and NIS2009 usage, the product tries to balance speed with usefulness and user control. And succeeds.
This though, is not some strange fluke. It is actually engineered for.
Symantec takes the (social) community seriously
By now, all of us, especially me, have had it up to our necks with those silly companies that spout nonsense about Web 2.0 without actually taking the time to borrow a clue.
Symantec, on the other hand, already harnesses the social community to great success.
Symantec’s MVPs are not company employees, but a series of dedicated users providing Symantec’s customers with support and being interlocutors in an invaluable feedback loop.
With it, the wonks at Symantec, I assume, are able to make real time analyses of incoming data, and use it to fine-tune their strategies, or products.
Furthermore, there are three principal labs worldwide, providing round-the-clock protection. Pretty impressive.
Symantec listens
When a company reaches middle age, it tends to have as managers, yum-yums who are just resting-and-vesting.
Due to that, any news that is seen as rocking the stock option/restricted stock vesting process is swiftly but silently shot down. In addition, narrowly and adroitly screened focus groups would be brought in to bolster the plans of that rester-and-vester. That is obviously not the case here.
It is a testament to the success of the company that the managers do listen.
We were walked through the incident capture, documentation, and resolution stages. It is a rigorous, detailed process where documentation is key. The end result is a product that is the beneficiary of the Community in its detection speed, and efficacy.
That is what listening to the community brings to the table.
For lesser products, especially those without an active community, the ability to identify, and intercept trending threats is greatly diminished. In fact, I would hazard a guess that most of those also-rans use the information coming out of Symantec to initialize their intercept protocols.
Pushing the envelope is part of the daily job
I cannot divulge this part of the day without incurring the wrath of Symantec’s Legal Department, and becoming the recipient of several snottograms.
However, I can tell you that the directions the Norton team at Symantec is pushing the consumer product is unprecedented, novel, and will lead to quicker identification and interdiction of threats, faster scanning and performance, and lower system utilization.
Believe that!
Conclusions
In computing, one is very easily jaded, and the resultant cynicism is hard to avoid.
However, it is the efforts of a few companies such as Symantec that, for want of a better phrase, ‘keep hope alive’.
Not only did I come away from that visit more enthused about Symantec, but I was pleased that the trust I, and by proxy, Logikworx, had placed in the Norton product.
Furthermore, I have developed such a confidence in their products, that I have asked my staff to include Symantec’s small business and enterprise products in our current tests of a replacement for CA’s business product. That test is now a bakeoff between Symantec, and Microsoft’s ForeFront products. It will be interesting to see how that turns out.
That said, what will drive the next wave of antivirus/antimalware products will be innovation. Both evolutionary and revolutionary innovation. While there would still be ‘Eureka’ moments by the odd inventor, by and large, innovation must be planned for.
The companies that innovate will rule the earth.
Symantec will be one of them.
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This article previously appeared in the July 2009 issue of The Interlocutor.
As notebook/laptops/netbooks get smaller, the usability of the trackpad goes down. Furthermore, some actions are just not as easily performed using a trackpad, for example playing Spider Solitaire. As a result, there has been a very good market in notebook mice, as evidenced by the sheer numbers of devices out there….(Read more)
Being me is not easy!
In my blog post here, Bing: Be Afraid Google. Be very Afraid, I went against the grain and declared that the nonsensical and trite platitudes being mouthed by the Googlians was nothing more than fear.
In it, I posted one cool nugget: Google until now, has been able to distract Microsoft from coming after their cash cow, web search.
*Battlefield Earth: you know the saying: It only took a billion monkeys thumping away at a billion typewriters a billion years to come up with that drivel. Which describes Microsoft’s web search strategy before Bing™.
In what is IMHO, the best pick yet by this administration, President Obama picked retired US Marine Corps General and 4-mission Shuttle astronaut, Charles F. Bolden, Jr. to lead NASA. (read on)
I have been using Windows 7 Release Candidate, or RC, for the past two weeks, both in x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) versions.
This release is an upgrade for me, since I have been using Windows 7 as my primary operating system since PDC2008, last October...(read more)
“I pity the fool”, used to be a phrase spat out in derision by the fictional character Sergeant Bosco Albert ‘B.A.’ Baracus on the 1980’s TV show, The A-Team.
In these current days, the fools in question are those who take the opinions of ignorant and...(read more)
Zero Percent!
Just got a memo that HP is offering 0% financing to small and medium businesses for, get this: Workstations, notebooks, desktops, servers, storage, printers, monitors, etc. the entire shebang!
Talk about standing out in these troubled times...(read more)
In my preview here, I announced the CradlePoint MBR1000 WWAN router.
Well, the MBR1000 was joined by the CTR500 and PHS300 mobile routers.
These three devices have performed beyond admirably.
The CradlePoint MBR1000 Router
This is a Superstar product.
In all our tests, one feature replicated across the line of CradlePoint devices was the ease of use.
The CradlePoint routers are plug-in easy, and come with a browser-based setup that is just easy.
Written for humans, this is a welcome departure from the techno jargon generally found in user guides from lesser companies.
I am still impressed by the fact that you plug in an already activated cellular mode, open a browser window, and Bob’s your uncle. Simple as that. If setup is required, a wizard and/or a simple web page allows you to do just that.
This is a high performance device, and it actually increased the perceptible response of the cellular modem.
For this and all mentioned in the preview, we are giving the CradlePoint MBR1000 the SmallBizWindows Superstar Award.
For any business, and anyone for that matter, in an area without broadband, the only device you should consider is the CradlePoint MBR1000 Router.
The CradlePoint CTR500
In a conversation with Don, a VITO (Very Important Top Officer) at CradlePoint, I mentioned that I might be taking the MBR1000 on the road with me for mobility. He laughed, and pointed me in the direction of the CradlePoint CTR500 and PHS300 devices, letting me know that they have me covered. Subsequently, I received both devices for review.
For the CTR500, I decided to test for reception as well as mobility.
Location: Holyoke, Colorado.
For this review, some providers from Mediklabs perform a clinical outreach in Holyoke to the underserved of our populace. In order to do so excellently, the providers need to be in contact with the servers back at Mediklabs.
However, in their assigned offices, the only spot where a cellular 3G connection cam be made is at a far corner right at the window.
Into this comes the CTR500. Plugging the 3G modem into the CradlePoint CTR500 created an instant Wi-Fi hotspot that worked throughout the assigned offices.
The providers looked at me like I was…..
This same experience has been replicated several times over the past couple of weeks all over rural Northern Colorado.
It is a device that extends your productivity past the end of the broadband line, and it is very welcome.
As a result, it is the recipient of the SmallBizWindows Business Ready Award of Excellence.
The CradlePoint PHS300 Router
For the past several months, I have traveled to Utah performing rainmaking duties for a project we have been working on.
Since it involves a lot of proprietary numbers, both sides in the negotiations have experienced some trepidation allowing me the use of their computer network while I am on their premises.
Enter the CradlePoint PHS300.
Upon entering the client building on the two occasions over the last few weeks that I have been there, I turned on the PHS300, which, incidentally, measures only 3x5, in got to work.
It is safe to say that enquiring minds wanted to know what we were talking about.
Even while in their data center, reception from the PHS300 was steady, and in all instances, the CradlePoint routers excelled in performance, even better performance than the stock 3G modems.
In the car, pickup truck actually, for the 2-hour trip back to the airport, my assistant and I were able to continue working through just one modem.
We are also giving the CradlePoint PHS300 the SmallBizWindows Business Ready Award of Excellence.
This kind of productivity enhancement does not come by accident.
In targeting this space, CradlePoint is innovating in a very neglected, however soon to be extremely important sector of the economy.
As more people disconnect their landlines and move to 3G and soon, 4G networks, the ability to take that broadband connection with us will be a boon to our productivity goals. CradlePoint is well positioned to help up make that leap. Which I am sure will be appreciated by some deep-pocketed company.
Finally, we are making the CradlePoint MBR1000, CTR500, and PHS300 essential components of the Logikworx Small Business Toolkit. Immediately.
One of the divisions at Microsoft that continues to underwhelm me is the Windows Mobile team.
Forget, for a second, the fact that they sell over 20 million licenses yearly….(read on)
For the past several weeks, I have been reviewing the Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S80 sheet feed scanner.
While we all strive for the paperless office, the reality of it is that the current inventory of documents has to be digitized, or at least scanned, into the respective e-document repositories of their owners.
Into this scenario comes the high-speed scanner.
Epson WorkForce GT-S80
Announced in November of 2008, the WorkForce Pro GT-S80, hereinafter called the scanner, is a sheet-fed, single-pass duplex scanner designed for small and medium business environments, with a bias towards smaller environments.
It is spec’d at 80 pages per minute in mono mode, and has a 75-sheet sheet feeder.
While we do not use dedicated scanners of any sort at Logikworx or Logiklabs, I have clients and prospects that need them, especially in the healthcare industry, more evident now that everyone is moving towards implementing electronic medical records and/or electronic practice management suites.
Accordingly, I was able to obtain a copy for review at Mediklabs.
Unboxing
The GT-S80 came in a smallish box.
While signing for it, I asked the FedEx courier if there wasn’t Part II to the package. No, said he, and went on his merry way.
I opened the package to see a small device, the size of a large toaster, and a power supply.
A USB connector, user manuals, and a software CD completed the package.
I connected the parts, inserted the disc in the test system, installed the software, got an ‘install success’ dialog, and got to testing.
The Review
The included software suite for the WorkForce Pro GT-S80 is pretty extensive. You get the primary Epson Scan software, Abbyy FineReader Sprint Plus OCR software, ScanSoft’s PaperPort, and NewSoft’s Presto! BizCard software.
I changed the default output to PDF files for this review.
I inserted ten (10) double-sided sheets into the scanner’s sheet feeder, clicked on double-sided scan, and proceeded to doubt what transpired next.
The scanner fed the papers so fast through the machine that I took the output and waited for the software to prompt me for the second side.
After none was forthcoming, I decided to look at the saved output to see what exactly was going on.
To say that I am impressed is a gross understatement!
The scanner performs high-speed, duplex, color scanning.
Repeat, the WorkForce GT-S80 performs high-speed, duplex, color scanning.
It is truly a high-speed scanner.
I then ran it through several paces, using different materials up to large photographs and at very high resolutions.
The GT-S80 breezed through it all. In fact, the holdup was with the post-scan processing on the default installed (computer) system for the high resolution scans. (A change of host systems to a high-powered desktop system solved the post processing, cutting the time involved to mere seconds.)
In the subsequent weeks, users of the scanner came away impressed with the performance, and numerous output formats this device was capable of.
Conclusions 
The Epson Workforce Pro GT-S80 is one serious Business Ready device.
In fact, I believe that it probably wins any price/performance test hands down with any other scanner, especially in its price class.
How much do we like it? Since sending the review unit back to Epson, staffers here at Mediklabs have gone into scanner withdrawals, and I am looking to purchase a copy for use here.
Accordingly, we have decided to give it the SmallBizWindows Business Ready Award of Excellence.
At SmallBizWindows, we get quite a few products sent to us for review.
We also solicit for products that catch our eyes and fancy – as described in the PR blurb, or by word of mouth.
Based on the product, it is either reviewed personally at the Orbiting...(read more)
Since Kylie Emma is only three months old, she probably has no need for a system right now.*
However, Disney’s Baby Einstein series is something she seems to relish listening to. As a result, she has scored a TV and DVD player. Close...(read more)
Déjà vu all over again…..
….shades of Intel’s cruel behavior against AMD.
For the younglings too, ahem, young to remember:
In the nascent days of personal computing, this is how the original Intel vs AMD started.
It is the same series of moves from their...(read more)
Sometimes, Christmas does come early!
Looking at the specs for the newly-announced Pantech Matrix Pro smartphone, three things I want/need in a phone stand out:
i) A large screen,
ii) A QWERTY keypad for composing stuff, and
iii) A numeric keypad for...(read more)
Hope it is/will be a good one for you and yours.
I will be giving the free copy of ...(read more)
I am writing this post on the Mini Mi Edition.
It is a tribute to HP that this system behaves, in many respects, like the Windows XP-based Mini 1000.
The first attention grabber is the size and sleek looks of the device. While the Mini 1000 was business...(read more)
I have just received a CradlePoint MBR1000 Mobile Broadband Router for a review.
This is an intriguing device that gives you routing capabilities with your 3G modem/device.
As someone desperately in need of speedy broadband connectivity in The Floating...(read more)
