Simplex-IT BizBlog

One of the questions I hear frequently from users of Office is “Why did Microsoft switch from the familiar Menu-based interface in Office 2003 and earlier to the new Ribbon User Interface in Office 2007/2010?” Well, the short answer is the Ribbon is intended to be easier to use – with fewer clicks to accomplish frequent tasks.

For some, whether Microsoft met their goal remains open to debate.

But, for me, I was curious as to how they actually arrived at and ultimately decided upon the Ribbon configuration. I’m happy to report if you have 90 minutes to spare I have located The Story of the Ribbon, documenting the entire history of how this User Interface was created. It’s a truly fascinating story and entertainingly presented.

It’s not often you get to go “behind the scenes” of the development of a product and this is truly an eye-opening experience. You may find it even helps you understand Ribbon better.

If you are still using Office 2003 or earlier, this might just motivate you to consider making the jump to Office 2010. To those I would say “Come on in, the Ribbon’s fine!”

Enjoy!

Ok, I’ve been a geek most of my life.  If anybody starts talking about geek nostalgia (usually starting a conversation with something like “My first IT job we used paper tape to load a program into our 16k minicomputer while dinosaurs roamed the Earth,” I’ll jump right in.

But I’ve come to realize the importance of talking about business.  About understanding business processes and needs.

And it’s a skill that’s still sorely lacking in the IT world these days.  And in my mind it’s the best skill set any IT professional can develop in terms of increasing their worth to their organization (or client, in the case of consultants).

I’ll be speaking at the Ohio North SQL Server User Group on Tuesday 3 January about this very topic.  Click here for more information, and to register.

The meeting is free, open to the public, and there will be pizza, plus a couple raffle prizes (at least 2 copies of Windows Ultimate!).

Like every year before, 2012 promises to bring continued evolution in the world of information technology. Of course, some segments will gain in popularity while others will diminish or even disappear altogether. Who will be the ultimate winners and losers? How will the inevitable changes impact the decisions you will be called upon to make in your professional role?

Join Simplex-IT for our first free Lunchinar of 2012 as Bob Coppedge peers into his crystal ball to suggest what technologies you should be following in the New Year to help your business prosper. Will it be the Cloud, Social Media, Virtualization…or something else? Join us and find out!

Where: Hattie’s Café, 164 N. Main Street, Hudson
When: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 from 11:30am-1:00pm

As a bonus, we will be awarding door prizes of Windows 7 and Office 2010 to two lucky attendees. Free food AND free software – how awesome is that!

We remind you, though, seating is limited. To reserve yours, email John@Simplex-IT.com or call 234.380.1277. Come join the fun!

This is our way of saying “thanks” to the 25 or so people who joined us at the fundraiser a couple of weeks ago.  And to thank my wife for giving me something as a Christmas present that was earlier given away as a raffle prize.

Thanks again to Microsoft and Life Equity for adding some additional raffle prizes!

Here’s a quick video combining both topics.

I know, I know, Christmas is over. But I just couldn’t resist passing along just one more free gift. This one’s from one of my favorite websites, MakeUseOf. They have all kinds of cool, helpful and free stuff, like: Tips & How To Articles, Best of Tools, Must Read Guides, Cool Sites Directory and more.

If you own both a Mac and a PC, you’re not alone. According to a 2009 survey, 85% of Mac owners also own a PC. This means millions of people need to make these two systems work together.

If you’re one of those, check out “Computing Harmony: Seamlessly Blend Windows and OS X,” the latest free MakeUseOf manual. Just click on the link above and you’ll be on your way to making these rivals work better together.

Enjoy. And Merry Christmas from Simplex-IT and MakeUseOf.com!

“At the beginning of the year, there were a lot of predictions on how 2011 would be the year of the cloud, and that it would be a tipping point for cloud adoption everywhere. These predictions have been largely confirmed.”

So reports Thoran Rodrigues on his TechRepublic blog article entitled “2011: The Year the Cloud Went Mainstream.” The article goes on to cite some of the growing pains the cloud encountered in 2011 and what the prospects are for 2012. Suffice it to say the future looks bright indeed.

Also featured is a link to an article in Harvard Business Review titled “What Every CEO Needs to Know About the Cloud.” Cited as “a very simple measure of how widespread cloud computing has become” it makes for very interesting reading, particularly if you’re contemplating how cloud services may benefit your company.

Of course, if you’re looking for specific guidance you are always invited to contact us here at Simplex-IT (John@Simplex-IT.com or phone 234.380.1277). We’re always happy to help!

Happy New Year!

Once a month Simplex-IT hosts a free Lunchinar that features an informational presentation aimed at business owners and/or IT professionals. But this year, for the month of December, we decided to do something different. It worked out so well we decided to make it an annual tradition!

First, we kept the free lunch idea. After all, we reasoned, who doesn’t like a free lunch? But instead of a business presentation, we decided to simply open the room to a relaxed atmosphere of networking. It worked! A good number of folks accepted our invitation to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the holidays and mingle with other like-minded professionals. The forum was very well received!

Networking at the Simplex-IT Holiday Lunch

In addition, in keeping with the Christmas spirit of giving we held a raffle for nearly a dozen Geek gifts, the top prize being a copy of Office Professional 2010, donated by Simplex-IT partner, Microsoft. There were several other prizes donated by one of our clients, Life Equity of Hudson. Other geek gifts were hand-picked by our own Chief-Geek-in-Residence, Kevin Dutkiewicz.

Prizes for the Geek Charity Raffle

In addition to the raffle proceeds of just over $200, Simplex-IT wrote a check for an additional amount and contributed a total of $500 to the Hattie Larlham Foundation (http://hattielarlham.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults in Northeast Ohio with developmental disabilities. Sandy, one of the hard-working employees at Hattie’s Café, gave a brief presentation on the Foundation and thanked everyone for their attendance and participation.

John introduces Sandy from Hattie's Cafe

At the end, everyone agreed a good time was had by all! And that is how an annual tradition is born!!

Simplex-IT president Bob Coppedge gives his fireside address

Merry Christmas to everyone from Simplex-IT, and best wishes for a Happy New Year!

On December 11 the Simplex-IT staff and significant others gathered for the company’s annual holiday brunch. The food buffet was great as was the freshly squeezed orange juice. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, clearly evident from all our smiling faces in the group portrait below.

Bob, Sam, Kevin, John, Doug, Mario, Cyndee, Steve

Thanks go out to all of you whom we’ve had the pleasure of working with during this past year. We are looking forward to continuing our tradition of exceeding our clients’ expectations in 2012.

As more than a casual observer, Bob Coppedge, president of Northeast Ohio’s information technology management firm Simplex-IT, has taken notice of a significant increase of malware attacks occurring in the recent past. In his quest to be more like Lenny on the popular TV show Law & Order, Bob has prepared this short video to help you understand what malware is, explain how it is socially engineered to trick you into allowing it to infect your computer network and, most importantly, how easy it is to protect yourself from what is otherwise a likely inevitable attack.

If you can spare just 4 minutes to view this presentation, we trust you will find the investment in your time to be very worthwhile.

At its conclusion, we invite you to call us at 234.380.1277 or send an email to John@Simplex-IT.com. We stand ready to answer your questions and reveal how easy and inexpensive it is to implement effective solutions to help you guard against malware attacks from the internet. Just click on the thumbnail below and you’ll be on your way!

Ok, this is thanks to our bud Dan Hanson over at GreatLakesGeek.com.

Don’t know what to get that Microsoft geek who’s on your list, but you really don’t want to spend anything on?  We’ve got you covered!

It seems that Microsoft has put up 7, yup 7 free technical eBooks for downloading.

Yup, they're free!

Now, these are pretty good books.  Each of them are decent sized, and worth perusing.

And the topics cover a wide range of topics, including:

• IT Careers
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Virtualization
• Office 365
• SQL Server 2008 R2
• SQL Server “Denali” (the new version!)
• Deploying Windows 7

 Good stuff!

Click here to get your copies (oh, and check out the poster showing creating snapshots in a Hyper-V environment)