Microsoft Releases Windows Vista

Microsoft officially releases Windows Vista today. Available in a half-dozen different versions, the new desktop operating system is sure to confuse already perplexed consumers and complicate business licensing. However, some type of update is long overdue, as the five-year-old (two years is forever in the technology industry) Windows XP OS had become very long in-the-tooth. Repeated updates, patches and hotfixes made the OS buggy at best and error-prone at its worst.

What's new? There are quite a few new Windows features. From improved security controls and update management to color matching, transparent windows and an integrated desktop search, Windows users will appreciate many of the operating system's new features and utilities.

Mac advocates, meanwhile, will rightfully remind anyone willing to listen that most every feature being introduced in Vista has long been available in Mac OS X. Ultimately, Vista will prove a better fit within Windows server domains, and that will help drive adoption. That's likely one of the leading reasons Microsoft elected to distribute the new OS first via its established business channels (the consumer versions will not be available until January 30th, 2007).

So, if you're looking to purchase a new computer this holiday season, you're likely going to be purchasing a Windows XP system that will be outdated 30 days after you buy it. Fortunately, in an effort to lure holiday buyers, Microsoft and its channel partners are offering most anyone who purchases a new PC between now and the end of January free Vista upgrade vouchers. If you are, indeed, purchasing a new PC this holiday season, do not purchase from a vendor that cannot supply you with the free Vista voucher. Or, better yet, just call Computer Troubleshooters. Not only will they ensure you get the right PC for your needs, but they'll negotiate a competitive price, drop it off and configure it for you!

Jurich's John L. Potshot; Petrino-Alabama Talk

I don't know whether Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich and former Louisville head football coach (and now former Michigan State head football coach) John L. Smith remained friends, but 2006's version of where-might-Bobby-Petrino-interview-this-year is generating some interesting barbs.

Check out Jurich's comments when asked about potential Big East coach poaching (including Bobby Petrino exploring a new coaching position - this time at Alabama - again after having just signed a fresh new contract):

"Stability breeds success. It's definitely important. I think we've got great jobs in this league, and as we've found out many times, the grass isn't always greener. You can find that out the hard way sometimes."

Was Jurich referring to John L. Smith, who was fired earlier this month by Michigan State? I think so.

But on to an even bigger question. Is there a chance Bobby Petrino will interview with Alabama?
I don't think so. Why not?

If you're Alabama, I think you have to ask who's Petrino beaten on the road since taking over the Cards' helm? He tanked against South Florida last year (he lost by more than 30 points!) and blew the biggest table that's ever been set for the Cards this year when his team imploded against a weak #15 Rutgers club. If I'm not mistaken, Petrino's yet to beat a top 20 team on the road. Someone check me on that, is that correct?

If you're going to compete in the (as the Louisville's Courier-Journal's Eric Crawford so eloquently writes, remove hats please) Southeastern Conference, you must be able to beat top 20 teams on the road consistently. Petrino, while showing flashes of brilliance, just doesn't have that track record.

One thing's certain. Petrino's become much more adept at managing the reporting regarding his career choices. Give him credit this time for working quickly to end suspicion he could be exploring other options.

But as Eric Crawford wrote earlier this week, if Petrino did choose to go, no one should fault him. There's no doubt the program is better positioned and much improved as a result of his work.

Netflix: I Couldn't Stay Away

Well, a few weeks ago I canceled my long-running (four-plus years) Netflix subscription. I lasted about three weeks without it.

Too often I come across a movie review or a friend recommends a movie and, what do I do? You guessed it. I add it to my Netflix queue. But when I left Netflix my wonderful queue was no more. The thought of actually walking into a video store to, gasp, rent a movie only to have to make a return trip in a few days actually turned my stomach... how 1980s.

Good news.

Not only was Netflix kind enough to forgive me and welcome me back with open arms, but the service also retained my queue. Netflix has always exceeded my expectations, what with its ability to deliver DVDs to my door in postage-paid return envelopes, its wide assortment of movies, and its groundbreaking Friends and Recommendations features. Remembering my queue after I recklessly unsubscribed cements the relationship long term.

I've always enjoyed the service. It's just I've been really busy and haven't had time to watch three or four movies a month. However, I discovered the $5.99 deal that enables my family to rent two movies a month, basically, without having to make a trip farther than our mailbox. That's a pretty good deal.

Netflix, it's good to know ya. I promise never to stray again.

Nashville (Brown County) Indiana

The family chose to take it first Thanksgiving weekend trip. We may have begun a new tradition. The small town of Nashville, Indiana, really dresses itself up to kick off the holidays. The kids got to sit with Santa, tour circa 1800s homes and offices, eat fudge, check out small town restaurants, and more. If you like, you can view pictures on Flickr.

Why Football Polls Don't Work

I'm done lending credence to any college football poll. They flat don't make sense.

Louisville, this week, is a perfect example. The Cardinals beat a tough South Florida team handily, yet fell a spot in the USA Today poll (to #11). Meanwhile, the win catapulted the Cardinals to #8 in the AP poll (right behind West Virginia, a team the Cardinals destroyed three weeks ago).

But that's not my complaint. My concern is with Rutgers, which defeated the Cardinals. Granted, the Cards rolled over and died in that game, but despite beating the now #8 team (and what was the #3 team at the time), Rutgers is now ranked 15th in the AP poll and 16th in the USA Today poll following a loss to Cincinnati (a team Louisville barely edged at home).

It's time to bid the poll system adieu. It obviously doesn't work. It's also contributing to talk the Cardinals may secure a BCS berth by virtue of a potential three-way tie atop the Big East. If you ask me, the Big East needs a championship similar to that of the SEC; I'm not convinced the Cardinals deserve the BCS berth, should WV beat Rutgers and Louisville win out.

Lack Of Broncos In Canton Disrespectful?

If Floyd Little, who rushed for 6,323 yards and earned three Pro Bowl berths, thinks the lack of Denver Broncos players enshrined in the NFL Hall of Fame is disrespectful, he should try viewing the Cincinnati Bengals exhibit in Canton. It's putrid.

Despite earning two Super Bowl spots, and playing in two intriguing matchups with the San Francisco Forty-Niners (believed by many to be among the greatest Super Bowls ever played), the Bengals have only a single representative present in the Hall of Fame: Anthony Munoz.

What about Ken Anderson? He was one of the first QBs to head the "West Coast" offense. He played in four Pro Bowls. He threw for 32,838 yards, 197 touchdowns and boasts another 2,200 yards rushing. He also led the NFL in Quarterback Rating four times (74, 75, 81 and 82).

Chris Collingsworth played well, too. His career totals? Some 417 receptions, 6,698 yards and 36 touchdowns. He surpassed 1,000 yards in four different seasons. He was elected to three Pro Bowls. Those are good numbers, too.

Certainly, if Little can make an argument, so too could Bengals fans for Anderson (and maybe Collinsworth), no?

Bo Schembechler: 1929-2006

Bo Schembechler has passed away.

As a child growing up in northwestern Ohio, just minutes from the Ann Arbor campus, I was always a committed Michigan fan. Schembechler's games against Woody Hayes (and others too numerous to mention) are flat historic.

He will not be replaced.

May he rest in peace.

It's That Time Of Year Again

Where will University of Louisville head football coach Bobby Petrino interview this year?

Three years ago he interviewed at Auburn. Two years ago he interviewed at LSU. Last year he interviewed with Al Davis' Oakland Raiders.

This year the talk's already begun. Potential candidate programs are said to be Florida State University and the University of Miami. I wonder if he'd be gone if Penn State came calling (although I believe their grooming JoPa's son, aren't they)?

I recommend you add Michigan State to the list. That worked out real well for John L., didn't it?

Other potential opportunities?

The Miami Dolphins are sure to float a few sounders, as could the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals.

Ultimately, the most tantalizing pick could be Pittsburgh. Yes, the Steelers. If Cowher decides to retire to the Carolinas, you'll see the moving van in front of Petrino's house faster than you can say "let's recruit a coach who can beat top 20 teams on the road."

It Was Fun While It Lasted

By now everyone's aware the #3 Louisville Cardinals will be #3 no more. A quick trip to Piscataway (which I don't even think I could find on a map) took care of that. With the loss to Rutgers, not only do the Cardinals freefall in the polls (and prove all the naysayers right who'd been claiming the Cards were overrated), but they lose out on the BCS bowl bid (as it's likely Rutgers will now enjoy the privilege, and rightfully so, they earned it).

Louisville's offense absolutely self-destructed in the second half of this game. Who in the hell calls a draw play on 3rd and 19? What is that? That's what $25 million buys?

But these types of losses don't come down to a single play or even a single player. There will be many pointing the finger at Brian Brohm, who at times looked like a deer in the headlights. Some will criticize the offensive line which, while outweighing Rutgers defensive front by an average of 50 pounds, was overwhelmed throughout the evening. Ultimately, though, the coaching staff must take the blame.

Sure, we're eight-and-one, but we lost when we most needed to win. Worse, we lost a game we could have won. There's no excuse for that. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do now but move on and enjoy the trip to a secondary bowl (which a few years ago we'd have been happy to have anyway, I guess).

Still, it's a significant disappointment. Expectations were simply so much higher. That's always a perfect recipe for letdown.

I guess we're Cutters again.

The Dems Have Spoken

Democrats picked up 28 seats in the House in yesterday's election. Louisville's own Third District Congressional representative, Anne Northup, lost her 10-year seat to publisher John Yarmuth (disclosure: I received payment years ago for several items published in the paper Yarmuth founded).

The Senate looks to be a toss-up. We may end up with a 50-50 split. The final tally is pending based on the results of close votes in Montana and Virginia.

The 28-seat change in the House is considerable. If I'm not mistaken, the shift gives Democrats control of the House for the first time in a dozen years.

Yarmuth ran partly on a universal health insurance platform. As a small business owner, I'm familiar with the high costs of health care employers assume. I look forward to enjoying the benefits of Yarmuth's new universal health care system (and the cost savings). If he could get that in place by Q2, that'd be awesome.

Here are the other items on my wish list (feel free to add your own as comments) in no particular order:

1. An end to negative campaigning.
2. Gas prices capped at two dollars per gallon.
3. Tax breaks and simplified filing for small businesses with less than 12 employees (the amount of paperwork I must complete as the owner of two small companies is simply staggering).
4. The ability to purchase cable channels a la carte (I want ESPN and ESPN2, that's it - not 70+ other channels I'm forced to purchase just to watch college football).
5. An effective Middle East exit strategy.
6. Someone to stop millions of our tax dollars from being used to encourage 19-29 year-olds to abstain from premarital relations.
7. All candidates (winners and losers) to remove all campaign signs before the weekend.

UPDATE: It appears both Senate seats in Montana and Virginia went to Democrats, thereby completing the sweep and giving the party control of both chambers.

Mossberg Slips With Latest Recommendation

I like Walter Mossberg, the noted Wall Street Journal columnist and Smart Money author.

When he stated the G5 iMac was the best computer he ever reviewed, who could blame him?

When he wrote that Apple makes the best computers (the hardware's impeccable, performance exceeds that of equivalent Windows systems, the software's more approachable and intuitive, the OS crashes less, it's more reliable, OS X is more secure, doesn't suffer from spyware and viruses, etc.), anyone being honest would have to agree he was right.

When he observed that Apple's Mac OS X had overtaken Windows XP in most major respects, you had to admit he's correct (OS X boasts more efficient memory management, an integrated desktop search, translucent windows, accurate color preview, a tighter kernel that's less prone to attack, etc.).

But in the latest issue of Smart Money magazine, Mossberg delivers five tips for staying safe online. His first point, that you must load up on antivirus and antispyware software (among other security software) when running Windows, is spot on.

His third recommendation, that you never respond to or click e-mail links from financial institutions, is sound, as is his guidance to avoid acting on stock tip e-mails, purchasing security software advertised in pop-up windows or e-mail and downloading software whenever you're uncertain of the host's identity.

It's his second recommendation that surprised me: Upgrade to the latest versions of the leading Windows Web browsers, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla Firefox 2.0."

The Firefox I get. That's cool.

But Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 is, in a word, a turkey. SonicWALL firewall interfaces don't agree with it. You'll have to deploy a firmware update before you can properly administer SonicWALL devices using IE7.

Certainly, that's not a problem for a lot of non-IT folks. But neither does the new browser work well with PeopleSoft (used by most large organizations), AdvancedMD and other Web-based medical interfaces (used by physicians and medical facilities throughout the nation), and a host of other third-party applications. Worse, the media player plug-in apparently proves flaky for many (I encountered trouble myself when I had IE 7 installed - I've since had to remove it to ensure access to critical sites and applications).

I don't like it.

Apparently, I'm not alone.

Mossberg often gets it right. But in the case of IE7, I think he's off the mark.

Storm Clouds Collect On Bengals' Horizon

The Bengals are struggling. Midway through the season, the team's record stands at 4-4. Despite strong wins against Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, the team's proven disappointing.

The falloff's largely due to injuries to key players (linebacker David Pollack, RB Chris Perry, C Rich Braham, LT Levi Jones and LB Brian Simmons have all missed games or are missing games to injury). Losing two key players (Odell Thurman and Chris Henry) to senseless suspensions hasn't helped matters any, either.

Most worrisome is the remaining schedule. Of the Bengals eight remaining opponents, fully five are in first place or own a share of first place within their divisions. It doesn't look good. And the Bengals won't be getting much help. Cincinnati is already two games behind Baltimore, which itself boasts a cakewalk schedule through season's end (remaining opponents' winning percentage is but .391).

What began as a season with incredibly high hopes has quickly turned into a year in which finishing 10-6 will prove an accomplishment.

Houshmandzadeh Rocks

UPDATE: In retrospect, after thinking more about the Bengals close games this year, I have to say I agree with the wisdom former Louisville Cardinals head coach John L. Smith once spoke, "Good teams overcome bad calls." No referee is responsible for the Bengals' disappointing .500 record this year. That said, I'm still a major believer in Marvin Lewis, Bob Bratkowski and the rest of the coaching staff. Some years are just better than others.

The Cincinnati Bengals today lost their critical matchup against the Baltimore Ravens due to horrid officiating. Field referees refused to call a blatantly obvious pass interference call on the Ravens when they hit Housh before the ball arrived on a fourth down play with just a minute and change remaining.

Houshmandzadeh, understandably livid, removed his helmet and spiked it on the field. He was immediately tagged with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (apparently the referees were still calling some penalties).

The game marked the third in which the Bengals were victimized by inept officiating. In the first the Bengals were called for a roughing penalty against New England when they took out a receiver on a critical crossing play - replays clearly showed the Bengals defender leveled the receiver with a shoulder, not a helmet. The second was when the Bengals were called for roughing the passer on a sack (a sack in which the Bengals forced and recovered a fumble) against Tampa Bay, which kept the Bengals from an easy shot at a winning score. The third was today when Houshmandzadeh clearly obtained a first down via a textbook pass interference play, but the officials inexplicably called no infraction.

Call me crazy, but I think that justifies a helment spike. In all its infinite wisdom, I suspect the NFL will fine Housh just as they levied a bogus $5,000 fine against Chad Johnson last week because he wore an Ocho Cinco nametag across his jersey nameplate during warmups. The fact Carson Palmer removed the Ocho Cinco nameplate prior to kickoff apparently meant nothing.

Jason Whitlock Ranks #3 Cards 9th

Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock thinks the Cardinals are overrated. He's ranked the Cards 9th in the nation following Louisville's easy victory over #3 West Virginia.

I told you there were still nonbelievers out there.

Meanwhile, 65 other Associated Press poll voters apparently disagree. They've ranked the Cardinals 3rd in the nation. The Cards are now sitting just behind #1 Ohio State (which almost lost to unranked Illinois this weekend) and #2 Michigan (which struggled against unranked Ball State yesterday).

What do I think?

I'm glad you asked. I think it's too early to get that excited. The Cards still have tough games remaining against Rutgers, Pittsburgh and South Florida (not too discount Connecticut). I'll get more worried about the Jason Whitlocks of the AP/BSC voting world once we've taken care of business against those ballclubs.

Shawn Colvin On Prairie Home Companion Tonight

Shawn Colvin will appear on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion radio show tonight.

I suggest you tune in. She's one outstanding musical triathlete.

Are IT Certifications Toast?

I think so.

The amount of time and money I invested in a Windows NT 4.0 Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer accreditation is staggering. The investment, however, was well worth it. Ten months of intensive study, hands-on lab experience and the confidence that comes from knowing you've mastered and proven your command of fundamentals was incredibly beneficial.

I'd do it again. But only because I was seeking knowledge and training way back then in the late 1990s.

My actual certification was really only relevant for five or six years. Then Microsoft rolled out Windows NT 4.0's replacement, Windows 2000.

Again I studied, hit the books, loaded up and hammered lab systems and then deployed the new OS in the real world. Some 18 short months later, Microsoft phased out Windows 2000 in favor of Windows XP (and 2003 on the server side).

That's when IT professionals began to walk away from certifications. Mastering sufficient material to pass seven or eight grueling exams is one thing, especially when combined with maintaining a full-time job, family responsibilities and any semblance of a personal life. But to expect an engineer to jump through those demanding hoops every 18 months was just too much. In fact, some chose to leave the industry altogether.

Now, according to data released by Foote Partners (an IT research firm) on November 1st, "certified skills pay has not just flat-lined, it's in the negative."

Just makes you want to jump up and study 500 hours or more for a load of certification exams, doesn't it?

IT salary and project fees are rising, though. Where's the catch?

According to Foote Partners, "Pay for certifications is on the wane, while non-certified skills are growing in pay."

Certification pay slipped 2 percent in the third quarter. Meanwhile, compensation levels for noncertified IT skills grew 7 percent over the past 12 months.

In other words, real-world experience pays (apparently five times more than simple certifications). Instead of dedicating time and resources to earning accreditations, information technology professionals appear best-served if they become familiar with, and master, technologies in the field.

According to eWeek, "certifications are losing value because employers are looking for more in their workers than the ability to pass an exam; they want business-articulate IT pros."

That appears to confirm that my decision to become a full-time technology consultant (versus spending time chasing professional certifications and concentrating my energies to fulfill a single corporate entity's needs) was the right one.

A few things are certain. I work more. And the challenge is greater. Obviously multiple clients possess multiple and more frequent crises. But the rewards are far greater, and not just monetarily, as you get to meet a variety of colorful individuals from a variety of different industries.

But I'm also much better positioned to troubleshoot a wider selection of errors and issues. I'm yet to find a client wishing to quiz me on inane facts related to the encapsulation used in constructing IPSec data packets; they just want to be able to reliably connect to their office VPN from home.

Given the choice of studying for yet another exam or assisting a new client in overcoming a perplexing technology issue, and I'll select the new client challenge every time. It's much more rewarding, both for me and the client.

Does Anyone Else Find This Disturbing?

Why would 44% of sports fans responding to an ESPN poll think an undefeated Louisville Cardinals team wouldn't play for a national championship?

If the Cards finish the season unbeaten, it means they cleaned the clocks of #3 West Virginia, #15 Rutgers, #17 Miami, a strong Pitt club, a scary South Florida team and everyone else they played!

Ohio State or Michigan will have a loss. That's a certainty (they play one another later in November).

Who'd want to see a rematch (where the better team's already been determined by virtue of who won the month-earlier contest) when you could have two unbeaten teams from major conferences able to square off?

That's crazy talk.

I'm not being a homer. If you have two unbeaten teams from major conferences at the end of the year, match 'em up. You don't need computers, BCS polls and a bunch of algorithms to figure this out.

Some 26% of respondents do, however, believe Louisville will win-out and play in the national championship game. That's cool. Shows some spunk.

Meanwhile, 30% are likely more realistic, voting that Louisville will lose before the regular season ends. Going undefeated is a pretty tall order, and as much as I like this Cards team, they've still got some doubters out there.

Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon

Just finished Altered Carbon. A sci-fi read, Morgan won the Philip K. Dick award, which is bestowed annually for "distinguished science fiction published in paperback original in the United States."

Morgan's underlying premise is pretty cool. Essentially, your soul can be captured in a "cortical stack," which is stored near the brain's base. When your body dies, if you can afford the payments, you can prearrange to have your stack transplanted into a new body (called a sleeve) upon death.

In the book, more affluent individuals typically acquire real human sleeves (typically from those people who couldn't afford payments to transplant their own cortical stack). In some cases, synthetic sleeves can be had, but the price is considerable.

Some religions, of course, wrestle with the question of whether re-sleeving is immoral, while courts sometimes resurrect a cortical stack only long enough to hear a murdered victim's testimony.

Folks suffer some strange sensations changing sleeves, both physically and emotionally. Laws, meanwhile, prohibit duplicating your stack and inserting it simultaneously into multiple sleeves.

Interesting stuff. I liked the concept, but the story line was somewhat predictable. And Morgan's writing sometimes appeared a little too forced, as if he were working a too hard to impress readers with vernacular and street jargon from 500 years in the future. At least it read that way to me.

That said, the concept remained strong enough to carry the book. I may well check out the sequel (Broken Angels).

Meanwhile, if you think the story's cool but don't want to invest the time in reading the book, wait for the movie. Morgan sold the rights to Warner Brothers. Smart man.

Corso Again Picks Against Da Ville... Oops!

He did it again.

ESPN football analyst Lee Corso - who also served as the Cardinals head coach in the very early '70s - predicted West Virginia would beat Louisville tonight.

His forecast? 37-34, if I remember correctly.

Actual final score?

Louisville 44, West Virginia 34.

Oops.

Corso, who's been picking against the Cards all year, will probably favor Rutgers when the Cards face off against the Scarlet Knights. Even though Louisville's likely to be ranked third in the nation when it plays #15 Rutgers, look for Corso to forecast a Rutgers upset.

Let's just hope it doesn't materialize.

IE 7 Doesn't Work With SonicWALLs

Heads up if you work with SonicWALL equipment. SonicWALL router administration menus don't work with IE 7.

Today Microsoft pushes IE 7 to Windows users automatically using Microsoft Update. Any systems used to administer SonicWALL TZ and PRO Enhanced and Standard Firmware firewalls and TZW models are going to experience difficulty if they use IE 7 to connect to these devices.

SonicWALL's working on firmware updates. I'm not sure I'm going to jump right out and upgrade every client's firmware immediately, though. I'm yet to find a client happy to pay for consulting work that simply accommodates Microsoft releasing an update.

Meanwhile, here's more information if you need it.

UPDATE: IE7 doesn't play well with McAfee, either, apparently.