If you fancy a break from work, by doing your job virtually, then try the Intel IT Manager game.  Now at version 2!

     

If you're in the Vista holdout camp and your boss isn't, Intel has just provided you with substantial amunition to support your point of view if reports from Inquirer prove to be accurate.  However don't expect a straightforward confirmation or denial from Intel anytime soon. Given the amount they have invested in their relationship with Microsoft, even saying what many are thinking about Vista, wouldn't make for a good business decision.

     

Now Microsoft XP Service Pack 3 has been out for a few weeks you should all have had enough time to at least begin testing in your environment.  With that in mind, we thought now would be a good time to examine in some more detail how SP3 could bring benefits to network security in particular.

Network Access Protection

Windows Vista supports NAP, and with SP3, now so does Windows XP.  NAP provides a number of ways to ensure a minimum level of compliance required for access to a network, ranging from DHCP, VPN and IPSEC clients to compliant hardware such as network switches and enforcement servers.  Before considering deploying a NAP solution, you must carefully consider appropriate requirements as setting the bar too high initially will simply mean you end up preventing far too many users from accessing the network and cause a massive support headache.  Given the copious reporting options provided by NAP you are well advised to simply enable clients without restricting network access initially, and use the data gathered to provide a snapshot of the compliance state of your environment.  This data will provide the information you need to ensure a phased implementation of NAP can be achieved without excessive traffic generation due to many clients accessing remediation servers simultaneously or widespread denial of clients due to non-compliance.

     

When discussing social sites such as Twitter or Facebook, the most commonly asked question is "How can I prevent access to them?".  These site can undoubtedly become time-sinks and as such can do untold damage to business productivity if access is uncontrolled.  But rather than simply see them as a problem to be banned outright, is there some way in which a business could embrace them for the benefit of all?

How about using a Twitter feed to monitor server or device status?  We'll implement just such a solution, check back soon for details of how we achieved it. 

     

Just a little something to ease you into the weekend!

Microsoft Flight Simulator Paper Plane Game

     

Now whilst Mozilla's download day is a particuarly effective PR stunt designed to drive adoption and visibility of their product, it serves as a handy reminder that there are alternatives to Internet Explorer.  Is now a good time to move away from IE in the business environment.

Every good story should grip the reader to the very end, however I shall depart from the accepted wisdom and instead deliver the denouement first.

Q. Should I replace Internet Explorer on company computers with an alternative browser?
A. No, at least not yet!

Testing here is the key.  It used to be that the requirement to support Integrated Windows Authentication (NTLM) was a stumbling block, but with a little configuration Firefox easily overcomes this potential hurdle.  Simply navigate to the about:config page in Firefox (version 2.0 or 3.0) and add the domains you require NTLM authentication for into the value section of the "network.automatic-ntlm-auth.trusted-uris" preference item.

There are a number of small functionality differences which may surface particuarly in 3rd party intranet-based applications and it's these that can slow or halt adoption; users can be surprisingly change-resistant. 

Ultimately we'd like to be able to recommend installing Firefox, but most of the advantages over Internet Explorer come down to tools and tweaks which are of more use to home than business users.  The two biggest supposed upsides are security and rendering support so we'll deal with those seperately.

Security

Frankly security in the browser is as much about machine setup as it is about in-browser strength.  If you are having problems with IE security then it's highly probable you've not locked down your systems first.  Now we're not saying that IE security is flawless, it isn't.  However your browser is only one piece in the security puzzle.  And remember, not using IE doesn't mean IE's security issues can't still be exploited.

Rendering Support

Here you'd think Firefox would win out, but in a business environment quite possibly not.  For far too long businesses have not only put up with the "foibles" of Internet Explorer, they've explicitly coded for them meaning IE bugs have become damn near intranet standards. 

In conclusion we think if you want to deploy Firefox 3.0, wait for Internet Explorer 8.0.  If Microsoft are true to their word, and ship IE 8 in standards compliance mode by default, it should prove sufficent to persuade intranet developers to make their applications that bit more standards compliant which could be enough to blow the browser space wide open.

     

Whilst the announcement of the iPhone 2.0 at WWDC won't cause queues at Apple stores yet, mainly because it doesn't launch until July, it might well cause queues at the door of the IT department.

Business users have long been beholden to their Blackberry devices primarilly for push-email. With Apple now providing push services in enterprise with Microsoft Exchange integration and for everyone else via Mobile Me, will the lure of Apple's brand cachet and the iPhones swish user interface be too much for some to resist?