Office on Windows. The Standard.

Office on Windows. The Standard.

Whether we’re talking Office or Windows, I’ve often encountered situations where open source advocates will stand, pitchfork in hand, and denounce the evil and cost of Microsoft software, and the ill intent of Microsoft. Sure, The Firm does everything they can to keep customers on the proprietary rails of Office and Windows. But there’s more to it than that. Organizations spend a lot on Office. That’s painfully clear to me, due to our work educating businesses on Microsoft enterprise licensing….

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Mac utilities that bring me joy

Mac utilities that bring me joy

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…

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Robotic Process Automation Mayhem

Robotic Process Automation Mayhem

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…

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Why is software licensing so complicated?

Why is software licensing so complicated?

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…

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Thoughts on my Nintendo Switch

Thoughts on my Nintendo Switch

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…

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A tenancy to overreact

A tenancy to overreact

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…

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A blog post a week for a year

A blog post a week for a year

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…

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Plane crazy

Plane crazy

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…

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iPhone X… just for the camera?

iPhone X… just for the camera?

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…

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A few thoughts on Windows 10 S…

A few thoughts on Windows 10 S…

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…

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