Ensight – Jeremy Wright

I have now posted this on nearly a dozen forums, the MS newsgroups, etc. It should be really simple.

I’ll replicate it here in the hopes that someone can help out:

Just beginning our internal testing of SUS, and we have one client hooked up to one server. Because we aren’t using AD I had to do the registry hack noted in the white paper.

Now, it only ever downloads the updates (automatically) for the same update every day (some MDAC one).

Any hints as to what’s wrong?

…

For some reason MovableType is no longer showing the URL for this entry. Commenting can be seen / viewed here.

Apparently, this game is looking good. Want to know when it’ll be released?

The game will be completed and on store shelves after Lionhead finishes developing it.

I really enjoyed Black & White. Never finished it due to having to reformat 3 times (unrelated to the game). I’ll definitely look at picking up / borrowing #2.

A lot of Google press this month. A lot of interviews. Ramping up for an IPO? We’ll see.

Google’s CEO is interviewed, as the grownup

Okay, he didn’t really. But we did get into a conversation about the benefits of Citrix, specifically over Terminal Services.

Since I never got around to writing why I believe CITRIX rocks for you guys, I figure I’ll just copy my email I sent Alex (great guy, great blog by the way).

Hey,

I’ll try to go through this without getting myself or you confused. Bear with me if things sound off, and feel free to ask questions.

I’ll start with the VPN tunnelling / SSL / etc. CITRIX has it’s own packet (ICA packet) it’s own encryption (ICA encryption, using a public / private key algo… It’s actually an S+P/private key, but yeah); etc. So it’s not really VPN, and it’s not really SSL either. You can choose to use either of these as well (since CITRIX connectivity happens through standard TCP/IP on port 1494) but by default all you have to do is open that port on the firewall. And even then… You dont’ ‘need’ to, there are other ways around it so that communiation happens strictly (for instance) over port 80.

As far as how CITRIX is better than Terminal Servies, some history might be useful. Back in the early days of IBM, a developer came up with a way to make computers multi-user available (ie: multiple users having full access to the entirety of a system, in a fully segmented way so they weren’t interfering with each other). As IBM often did at the time, it felt there was no future for this technology. So, CITRIX was formed.

CITRIX decided not to stick with IBM, but to develop for Windows. They reached a deal with Microsoft whereby they would have full access to the source code they needed, and in return MS could have a cut-down version of Terminal Services that they could distribute. What eventually evolved was a give and take relationship whereby changes made to either ‘version’ are sent to the other company, with the understanding that MS was not allowed to produce a more advanced version of Terminal Services than CITRIX offered.

So, that should cover some of the history and connectivity, but the key issue is “what is Citrix”, as well as “what makes it so damn good”.

I wish I knew your experience with other systems because then I could draw some comparisons, so excuse me if I oversimplify.

At it’s core, CITRIX is terminal services, on speed, with management, load balancing, web-delivery of applications (no, not like .NET); seamless integration, authentication (within CITRIX or tying into AD or eDirectory); etc.

Simple, right?

Before I forget, I actually have a server + 5 CAL license pack for Citrix. If you’re interested and have spare gear I could send it to you for a few weeks (it’s full license, not trial).

As for how CITRIX is better… It really depends on how you want to use it. You could use it, for instance, to make an application available to all of your users without the need for them to install any software. They would go to a website, click run and it would open it as if it was on their computer, though really it would be running off the server. It wouldn’t be in a Terminal Services window (one of the agreements with MS is that they couldn’t provide seamless solutions, hence the TS window). It would have a taskbar icon for Wordpad (if it was Wordpad); the description of the file, etc. It would behave as if it was on their system and the user wouldn’t know the wiser (access to their local drives, their printers, etc).

In this kind of scenario, you upgrade once (on the server) and everyone has access to the latest version of, for instance, Office. Speed and latency aren’t an issue, because all that’s required for full streaming is 22K/sec connectivity. Something easily achieved on just about any network.

Or, perhaps you want to deliver applications remotely. Again, you could use a web interface to easily do this so that, for instance, your travelling execs (yeah, I know, you work for a law firm); wouldn’t use Outlook Web Access, but the actual full Outlook client itself, and have access to all their personal folders (if you do non-Exchange folders) and everything.

Or, maybe, you have employees who work from home but need full office connectivity and all the applications. Sure, you could use VPN (but then you have to go through the hassle of application mirroring). Instead you could either deploy the application, or you could ‘publish a desktop’. This is basically delivering to them a full Windows environment with everything they need, fully integrated. They connect to your CITRIX farm, and boom they have the start menu items, desktop shortcuts and all the applications available to them. Instantly. VPN? Pshaw

For some organizations, they want to use Windows, but get away from MS licensing. So if you wanted to go all Linux, but not use Linux, you could actually have the PC boot into a fully CITRIX environment, and the only MS licensing you’d pay is site-wide Terminal Service licensing (about 25$/user). After that, no Office license fees, no Windows license fees, and little need for expensive A/V software either).

Yes, CITRIX can be damned expensive, I know. But it does present some interesting options. And that’s without me getting into all the cool authentication, centralization, management, load balancing and security features.

Not sure if that helps or not.

Some interesting things from the keynote at Brainshare this week:

1. Novell is definitely moving to xNix (SuSE)
2. Novell will take the fall for companies buying xNix products (if SCO wants to sue, for instance)
3. They really, really don’t like Microsoft
4. Training will be stepped up a notch, and Linux certification will be stepped up several notches

This is interesting. 4 years ago, everyone figured Novell would just die a silent death. Sales of products were way down, Netware adoption was in the negatives.

Last year they bought SuSE. (Ximian, okay?)

They are now pushing Linux huge. Incredibly huge. All products now available on Linux. All partner and maintenance customers getting free licenses of all Linux versions of products. New certification tract.

…

And a whole lot of anti-Microsoft jokes.

This is a really good move for Linux and for Novell. Novell had no hope of surviving as a second-tier OS and product provider. They had to piggy-back off of someone, and they really didn’t like that someone being Microsoft.

They now have their own OS, a whole new line of products and a hope for the future. A lot of people respect Novell. By throwing their weight, and the entire company, firmly behind Linux, I honestly believe they’ve saved themselves.

They’ll validate Linux. They’ll become the key Linux certifying authority (I honestly believe that the only company that is better at certification testing is Microsoft, edit: and Cisco, I’ve been corrected… the practical aspects of the Cisco exams are fantastic). They’ll become a huge mover of Linux software, as well as hardware (appliances) through their partners.

They’ll move boxes through HP and through IBM. While I don’t think this is tantamount to Linux taking over the world, the visibility of the platform has increased hugely thanks to Novell.

Maybe Linus wasn’t such a sellout after all, eh?

There are few companies which are more behind RSS than Microsoft, in my opinion. Granted, a large portion of that is due to the nearly 1,000 staff members who are blogging, but still. I honestly believe that Microsoft is seeing more and more value in this space.

So, here are some clear and concise suggestions for areas which could not only use RSS to deliver benefits to users (and Microsoft); but will also push the adoption of RSS (availability drives demand, which drives availability):

Product Feeds

By providing RSS feeds for updates to products, Microsoft will get instant information into the hands of IT people, bloggers and deciision makers very quickly. Demand would easily be driven as people realise they can stay up to date on the products they are using simply by subscribing to half a dozen RSS feeds (or possibly one combined feed?).

As I understand it, each product group would need to get this moving. The Exchange group seems very keen on this as it stands right now. I’m assuming the Longhorn group will step up, what with Robert Scoble being there and everything.

Knowledge Base Feeds

As I noted earlier, the MS Knowledge Base is available via RSS. The problem is that it’s from a third party. While I’m never one to push for Microsoft to push down another company, this is Microsoft’s data. They should be providing support services and access to this information set.

In addition, one of the greatest weaknesses in the KB is the lack of White Papers. While one suggestion has always been linking to white papers from within KB articles, users could optionally subscribe to both KB and white papers on given subjects, making the white papers (fantastic resources) more readily available.

General Purpose Feeds

Microsoft could easily benefit from becoming an information source. The information is already being published in various places on the Microsoft site, having topical feeds would greatly increase this visibility, and thus consumer trust.

Feeds on security, server information, etc would be invaluable.

Security Focussed Feeds

Feeds for Windows Update (based off of Feedster-like queries perhaps?); Office Updates, SUS / WUS would be invaluable as a large part of the toolkit for System, Server and Network Admins. Information is always hard to come by, and by extending MS’s information gathering to users, relationships will quickly become forged.

Careers Feeds

While the Agents service that Microsoft provides are decent, providing more user-controlled information is invaluable. Especially since Agents weight towards titles, whereas an RSS feed could scan the ‘full entry’ (job description) giving people more jobs they could be qualified for, thus bringing in greater candidates and turning more people from Passive to Active candidates.

Other Feeds

More effective MSDN feeds, community feeds, chat feeds… The list practically never ends.

Put the power of information into people’s hands and they will use it, push it and bring more value to it.

The biggest challenge for Microsoft shouldn’t be if RSS should be used. It should be when, where and how. Don’t just jump on the bandwagon. Have a strategy, integrate it into your existing direction and use it to get the information you want to get out to Influencers out there. Quickly.

Update: It seems the XML Developer Center is a VERY interesting step in the right direction. Good move! [thanks to Dare ]