I blogged on Novell Cool Blogs about doing an interview at Novell Open Audio.
The email invitation looked a little like this:
From: openaudio openaudio To: openaudio openaudio; Martin Buckley; Michael Douglas Pearson; Ted Haeger Date: 14/Jun/06 Time: 14:00 - 15:00 Subject: ZENworks 7 SP1 Place: Podcast Studio, 8th floor behind the mens room Prep and Interview The Novell Open Audio Crew www.novell.com/openaudio
This was answered on a Novell Open Audio question:
So one other thing I was asked – what about ZENworks Success Stories.
Well – there is a Success Story database http://www.novell.com/success – and here is a huge list of public successes using ZENworks.
You probably want to copy and paste that url into your favourites.
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I’ll be interviewed by Ted Haeger and Erin Quill tomorrow for Novell Open Audio.
I opened the question list up on Cool Blogs last week – and I’ve got about half a dozen things to cover specifically from the readers of Cool Blogs.
One other request that came in directly to my inbox – ezs@novell.com – is to ‘go behind the scenes’ at Open Audio. I’ll certainly have my camera and I’ll get some pictures and stories uploaded tomorrow evening. I’ll also have some really crunchy Doritos to pass around..
Written at: Draper, UT
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Next week I will be recording a slot for Novell Open Audio on ZENworks 7 Support Pack 1. That’s due for release in the very near future – and I’ll be talking about some of the new platforms we will support and a new feature that we’ll be rolling into the release.
I’ll also take the chance to answer any questions that you post on this blog – so here’s your chance.
Post your ZENworks related questions here – and I’ll select the best ones to answer on Open Audio next week. If you leave your name I’ll even give you a mention.
Looking forward to those questions. Remember – anything goes 
Written at: Draper, UT
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A short while ago I wrote about Windows Vista and some of the implications it has for organisations.
Since then there have been several developments. At the start of May 2006 the analyst firm Gartner mooted that Vista will ship en masse in the second quarter of 2007
A research note released this week from Gartner Inc. predicts that Microsoft Corp. will miss its target to ship Windows Vista on PCs by January 2007. According to Gartner, Vista won’t be broadly available to customers until the second quarter of 2007
The report document is here; there is a fee for the original.
There has also been a lot of commentary from many bloggers – from Robert Scoble to MiniMicrosoft – and a lot more.
All of this commentary – from analysts, press and bloggers – is having an impact with CIOs and their teams. I am seeing a lot more customers planning to refresh to Windows XP SP2 during 2006 and stay on that new platform for ‘a while’. The general impression is that Vista is still a ‘moving target’ – not helpful for planning purposes.
Written at: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
I promised in my last post on Windows Vista that I would comment on on large area of any desktop refresh – application refresh and validation.
In the last six or seven years we have seen several phases of this process – moving from DOS to Windows 3.1; moving from 16 bit Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 or NT4; and moving from NT4 to Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Each of these desktop OS changes introduces a fresh round of application testing.
Here is the typical process – one that is being followed my most organisations.
The next post will cover the re-packaging and test phase of this process – one of the largest areas of time expenditure – but also one of the most vital. I’ll talk about how good process and procedures will really make this successful.
Notice how nothing so far has been ZENworks specific? Everything here is really for any customer deploying XP and refreshing their standard desktop. My final post will be to tie this all together with ZENworks glue and magic – and show how we can make it very, very efficient and cost effective.
As always – I’m looking for your feedback and updates – comments welcome.
Written at: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Several articles on this blog have referred to the Cool Solutions Wiki – http://wiki.novell.com.
If you have not used a Wiki before – you may wonder what this weird and wonderful sounding thing actually is.
I’ll try and give some background – and finish with a plea for content!
Written at: Toronto, ON, Canada
Put simply (again – quoting Wikipedia – itself a wiki)
A wiki (IPA: [‘wi??.ki??] or [‘w?.ki??] [1]) is a type of website that allows users to easily add, remove, or otherwise edit all content, very quickly and easily, sometimes without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative writing. The term wiki is a shortened form of wiki wiki which is from the native language of Hawaii (Hawaiian), where it is commonly used as an adjective to denote something “quick” or “fast”.
The Cool Solutions Wiki is a central spot for all of that ‘other important information’ that should be shared across the community. Sometimes created by Novell people; most often by you – our customers, partners and developers.
The content is as good as the community. Like one large ‘pot luck meal’ – if we all bring something good we’ll have a feast. The vast majority of wiki sites become the body of knowledge for the broader community – I’ve already plugged Wikipedia – but other sites as diverse as the WordPress Codex to Science of Spectroscopy use the Wiki structure to facilitate rapid and broad information sharing.
Sounds like a public information film eh? All very co-operative and liberal.
Take a look at the Novell Cool Solutions Wiki – and think for a moment. Do you have a morsel of information that can be shared? Can you spare a minute or two to jot it down.
I’ll especially plug the ZENworks part of the site – I’m just writing a lab guide or ‘Cook Book‘ on ZENworks 7 Linux Management. I’ve also created a ‘Call for Content‘ – where you can take the lead and start sharing your information. It’s a work in progress; a living body of documentation.
Let me know your comments, feedback and whether the Cool Solutions Wiki is useful. I’ll see if I can whistle up some ‘Evil ZEN Scientist’ T-shirts for the best few articles that get written as a result of this post. Bribery always works.
Written at: Toronto, ON, Canada
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