During the past 12+ years I’ve used a Mac, I’ve had dozens of little utilities that I swore by for a time, many of which came and went. Some were binkies of a sort, easing the discomfort of using a Mac for a long-time Windows user. Some were power toys – often to find things, run things, or sort things in ways that a Mac’s operating system couldn’t at a certain moment in time. Over the years, what would eventually…
Until 8 months ago, I don’t think I’d ever heard the term “bot” or “bots” used in any context other than search engine crawlers or FrontPage technology <shudder/>. But beginning three boot camps ago, someone asked me, “how do we license bots?” – and I’ve been asked this question at both boot camps since, and 3 more times in addition during that timeframe. Outside of licensing Office for use in a server application (step 1: don’t do that!), this is…
I’ve worked around Microsoft licensing for almost 7 years at my current employer, but even when I was doing Web development back in the 1990’s, Microsoft’s licensing —particularly for SQL Server—was infamous for its complexity, or at least for how hard it was for someone new to the realm to wrap their head around. The more things change, the more they stay the same; Microsoft is still (in)famous for the complexity of their enterprise software licensing rules. I compiled a…
A little over a week ago, I purchased a Nintendo Switch. We can perhaps call this impulse closure, but not an impulse buy. I can’t count how many times I walked by the device at stores, seriously contemplated it, and walked on, having walked totally through a logic tree that had it sitting on my shelf, unplayed after some initial joy. Perhaps we’ll get to that point, and perhaps it will arrive sooner than I’d like. But for now, I’m…
I’m often accused of being pedantic. This isn’t something new – my brother used to call me “Perry Precise”, and would intentionally say things incorrectly to set me off. So maybe it’s not all my fault? My day job is writing about Microsoft technology – primarily Microsoft’s identity and systems management servers and services. But I also write about licensing, and co-present our Microsoft Licensing Boot Camps every other month, around the country and once per year in London. A…
The other day, I pondered deleting my blog entirely. But I realized a couple of things that made me reconsider: Even though my day job is writing, I really do enjoy writing on my own, for fun. I’m not terribly artistic – so writing of any kind is more or less my creative outlet. As my 45th birthday approaches, I find myself reflecting, and sort of missing the challenge that the Honolulu Marathon presented to me – it was a…
I love planes. I always have. I love any mechanical contraption, so why wouldn’t I love planes? They’re amazing, absolutely gorgeous, technically incredible creations, that make our world so much smaller… but they have the power to terrify me, unlike any other means of transportation. The other day, Brad Sams posted about his flight anxiety, and it really hit home for me. Brad and I have talked several times over Twitter before about the “joys” of flying, usually when one…
When Apple did their annual phone hardware announce last year, I couldn’t have been less excited. I was reasonably happy with my 6s, but it wasn’t acting ideal. A replacement I got under AppleCare after my original 6s started having problems charging, this one worked alright, but was having some weird performance problems. After the close of last year’s event, I felt no urge to get any of the three new phones. If you follow me on Twitter, you likely…
A few months ago, before Microsoft announced their new Surface Laptop or Windows 10 S, I had several conversations with reporters and friends about what might be coming. In particular, some early reports had hinted that this might be a revision of Windows, something designed for robustness. Some thought it might be more Chromebook-like. Given the experiences of my daughters with Chromebooks, those last two sentences are oxymorons. But I digress. What arrived, Windows 10 S (AKA “Windows 10 Pro in…
As I head into the weekend, I’m prepping for my second work trip of the year. First up was Orlando, back in January. While we often don’t have a ton of free time in some of the cities we hit for our licensing boot camps, my colleague and I usually have a bit free, and in particular, have time for specific dining options. San Diego is a funny one, because while I usually have a set of places I like…