Category WTF

So here we are kicking off the first official day of the IT Grand Prix in Washington DC!     We were supplied with a USB Key with our puzzle, an Internet connection USB card, and a $500 cash card for our incidentals! Our host David Elfassy gave us a ‘puzzle’ to solve in order to find out which non-profit organization we’re going to be going out to help.    Through deductive reasoning, over-thinking the problem, WAAAY OVER THINKING the problem, and some more deductive reasoning… :) We were able to find the non-profit we would be destined to help!

Welcome to KIPP DC!

KIPP DC is a network of high-performing, college-preparatory charter schools in Washington D.C., which serve the city’s under-resourced communities. At KIPP DC, there are no shortcuts: outstanding educators, more time in school, a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum, and a strong culture of achievement and support help our students make significant academic gains and continue to excel in high school and college.

But what does that mean to you and me?  They’re a business just like yours and anyone else’s who suffer many of the same challenges we all do.  And one of those challenges is how to manage the demanding needs of students, faculty and staff, while being able to stay strategic, forward thinking and be proactive instead of merely reacting to the future of computing.    The challenge with Daniel Nerenberg and I on the Red Team were helping them work with, was addressing Application Virtualization.  Our esteemed coopetition fellows Gordon Ryan, Andrew Bettany of the Blue Team are helping with a Windows 7 Deployment strategy and plan.

What do you get when you combine IT Pro’s, Non-Profits, Coffee and @cxi?

Innovative solutions the likes of which can only be explained with stirrer sticks and sugar packets!    If you know anything about me, you know that I love tactile reference of physical infrastructure, solely for the logic that we have the ability to MOVE objects around (unlike a whiteboard where we end up getting messy… and it’s not nearly as cool and impactful)   I felt it might be useful for a layman’s explanation of what I just said, so in simple terms…  I like to play with stuff you can find around you :)

The above picture is an architectural breakdown of application virtualization presented to a user use-case environment.   Basically look at it as the sticks are ‘boundaries’ in the first square picture, that physically shows a single ‘machine’ with applications living inside of it, with all of the constraints and conflicts which also happen to live within that environment.    However, in the second picture, you have a breakdown of applications virtualized into separate packages, yet there’s also a model of shared package layers and abstraction… Lots of abstraction! This video helps explain it a little further!

After our sit down talk and interview with Director of Operations, Edward Han and IT Manager, Adam Roberts we got to work on a plan of how Application Virtualization would help out Kipp DC with their organizational challenges.  

As you can see here, the Blue Team is hard at work.  I’m not sure if they were working on their slides, or checking out some new Chuck Norris statistic, but nonetheless… We all got down to business creating collateral, producing and providing information which would help out those folks and how it would apply (in our case) to what Application Virtualization with App-V could do for them!

I would be remiss in my duty to not share with you what I shared with them.  Use it in the context of your organization of course (as I will not be sharing the incidentals of their organization here! :))

Microsoft’s Application Virtualization collateral!

• App-V Case Studies
• University Reduces Application Packaging Time, Enhances Access, with Virtualization
• Independent App-V Blog
• Accelerate your Windows 7 deployment with App-V
• Application virtualization candidates
• Microsoft Office 2010, more integration in App-V 4.6

And here are a few videos produced by the folks on Sequencing and actually deploying using App-V (or Softgrid for you legacy folks like me :))

Though I’m sure some of you are saying “Hey, what about VMware ThinApp – Why didn’t you talk about that?!”  It’s true.   Our mission was to discuss App-V, fortunately I had Daniel with me who is an MVP in App-V too!  However, so you don’t feel left out, here are a few videos of Deploying VMware ThinApp from start to finish in 20 minutes! – Enjoy! :)

Following this, we wrapped up for the day, grabbed our (heavy) bags, and headed out to where the Bus would take us to our next destination: Marriott Brooklyn Bridge in New York City!

However, like the geeks we are… All the way at the back of the bus is… a Power Outlet! … Ooh! Two outlets actually! So the guys had their ‘friendmaker’ power strip multipliers, and we plugged them in, with enough arsenal to run a small business (or even a mid-sized enterprise with the kind of gear we’re sporting! :))   And just so you get a good feel for what we’re looking at here… I’m sitting in the literal hot seat!   See all the cables? Oh wait, what’s that you see? It’s 109.5 DEGREES DOWN THERE?!?!? Yea, it’s pretty hot at my feet :)

I hope you enjoyed Day 1 – This was only the beginning on this whirlwind adventure tour of madness, insanity, education, and Technology! We’re Technology Focused! :)

Here’s a consolidated list of a number of the resources I regularly put up here, so you can find them easier!

Free Training

5 Free Virtualization Training Courses for the Holidays! (HyperV)

I’m not sure how long this is going to last, so I highly encourage you to sign up, get your class registered in and taken!

This course is highly recommended and valuable!

How much does Free Microsoft Learning Cost? (Hint: Free!)

A whole series of Free E-Learning which used to cost a substantial amount of monies, but is Freeeee! Thanks Microsoft! :)

Free Books!

Sign up for the Microsoft Press Book Connection Newsletter now

Just go there, sign up and monthly you’ll receive an email which has the latest free E-books from the MS Press Team! Caveat: the books are typically only available for 5-7 days at a time – so you should act as soon as you get the emails!

More Free Training?!

Microsoft Elevates America with Social Responsibility

More Free Training at the High and Low level, in addition to some kinds of assistance for furthering education!

Microsoft Virtual Labs

Every wanted to try out a product you’ve never installed, or even downloaded.  Or you want to learn a new application, or even Programming language.  The Microsoft Virtual Labs are the perfect solution there.   They include not only immediately available applications for you to test in a real lab environment, but they also have ‘training labs’ so you can go through an educational process in order to learn the material.   The best part is, you’re not bound by the material either – So if you want to think outside the box of training you can, but if you’re not sure what to learn they provide guidance there!

We’re still waiting for the launch of more Beta Certification exams and other/more free stuff, but definitely take advantage of the resources above as they’re infinitely useful!

Hey there, latest UN resolutions proposed, lets see how the votes came out!

By a vote of 180 in favour to 1 against (United States) and no abstentions, the Committee also approved a resolution on the right to food, by which the Assembly would “consider it intolerable” that more than 6 million children still died every year from hunger-related illness before their fifth birthday, and that the number of undernourished people had grown to about 923 million worldwide, at the same time that the planet could produce enough food to feed 12 billion people, or twice the world’s present population. (See Annex III.)

By the terms of the text, the Assembly would express concern that, in many countries, girls were twice as likely as boys to die from malnutrition and childhood diseases and that twice as many women as men were estimated to suffer from malnutrition.  Accordingly, it would have the Assembly encourage all States to take action to address gender inequality and discrimination against women, including through measures to ensure that women had equal access to resources, including income, land and water, so as to enable them to feed themselves and their families.  By further terms of the draft, the Assembly would urge Member States to promote and protect the rights of indigenous people, who have expressed in different forums their deep concerns over the obstacles and challenges faced in the full enjoyment of the right to food.

After the vote, the representative of the United States said he was unable to support the text because he believed the attainment of the right to adequate food was a goal that should be realized progressively.  In his view, the draft contained inaccurate textual descriptions of underlying rights.

The Committee also approved a draft resolution on the rights of the child by a vote of 180 in favour to one against ( United States), with no abstentions.  Among other things, that omnibus text would call upon States to create an environment conducive to the well-being of all children, including by strengthening international cooperation in regard to the eradication of poverty, the right to education, the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, and the right to food.

So, taken at face value with this information it looks like the United States is being cruel, vicious and uncaring; as though choosing self before choosing the rights of children and people to eat, be educated and have enjoyment and health.    The did speak out in more detail stating:

Speaking in explanation of vote, the representative of the United States said that, while agreeing with the sentiment expressed in the resolution, his delegation could not support the text as drafted.  The United States felt that the attainment of the “right to adequate food” or the “right to be free from hunger” was a goal that should be realized progressively.  The current resolution contained numerous objectionable provisions, including inaccurate textual descriptions of underlying rights.  The United States was the largest food donor in the world of international humanitarian food aid and it would continue to work towards providing food security to all.  In the future, he expressed hope that the co-sponsors would work to address his delegation’s concerns, so the United States could join other countries in adopting the draft.

Wow, it looks like they really do want to help, but there are some vital ‘legal’ and perhaps questionable character flaws of the way the text was presented.  Certainly the text can be misconstrued and result in people having less luck in achieving the results this resolution looked to resolve.

Which leaves me to question why is it that all resolutions are stored under lock and key and no one ever gets to see them until it becomes time to pass them, so that stipulations and textual misinterpretation cannot be mishandled.  Oh wait, I forgot, that doesn’t happen.

So you’re telling me, if you disagree with a portion of the bill you outright deny it, instead of working towards getting it corrected in the first place?  I’m sure having a terrible PR effort show up on your record is far better than standing up for what you believe in when it matters, instead of ‘at the time of vote and make us look like fools’.

By the looks of the document others also disagreed with portions of it, but they didn’t say “I won’t tell you what I disagree with, I’ll simply deny the resolution on the whole!” because by the looks of it, 180-1 makes you look like the fool.

While speaking on the rights of Children they said:

Speaking in explanation of vote, the representative of the United States welcomed the commitment of the United Nations and the Third Committee on issues relating to the rights of the child.  The United States was equally committed to the issue and had worked to ensure that the protection of the rights of children was fully integrated into its foreign policy.  However, she also expressed disappointment over the failure to make a number of minor changes that would have allowed the United States to support the draft.  In particular, she referred to preambular paragraph 2, which stated that the Convention on the Rights of the Child “must constitute” the standard, and in operative paragraph 2, which might have been improved by urging States to “consider” becoming States parties to the Convention, as each State had a sovereign right to make such decisions on their own.  Finally, operative paragraph 31, which recognized the contribution of the International Criminal Court in ending impunity for the most serious crimes against children, was not necessarily supported by fact, as it had not yet tried a single case in that regard.

So again here, 180 to 1, and another piece of legalese since they mandated it “must constitute” instead of leaving it open to interpretation “must consider” meaning countries which already violate children and human rights would sit back and say “Hey, sweatshops? nah we considered it and said we don’t think so”.   Seriously US.   When everyone else is doing it (Sure don’t follow the tread, but don’t sit back and disagree over a mandate of good instead of an interpretation of evil which it seems like you wanted to be allowed.

I live here in the United States, and seriously? I mean, Seriously?!  Next thing you know, they’ll be voting against another good mandate over the definition of the word “is” or something.

I won’t even go into all of the other things the United States voted against because I don’t have that much SPACE out here! Read it if you wanted to be informed!

Here’s a fun email I received today!

Dear Christopher Kusek,
At Vonage, we’re committed to providing exceptional phone service at a great value you can rely on. On December 1, 2008, the price of our Residential Basic 500 Minute Plan increased from $14.99 to $17.99¹. The new price will be reflected in your February 2009 bill. We’re proud that we remain one of the most competitive choices among home phone providers.
Don’t forget, with the Vonage Residential Basic 500 Minute Plan, you will continue to receive 25 great features, like Call Waiting, Caller ID, and Voicemail Plus that many phone companies still charge for. International calls are still as low as 1 cent per minute.
As an option, you might consider the Residential Unlimited Plan for only $24.99² a month. For just $7 more you will get:

• Unlimited local and long distance calls in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico
• FREE calls to landline phones in Italy, France, Spain, UK and Ireland
• Peace of mind – never worry about going over your minutes again!

For even more savings and the convenience of one bill each year, you can pay in advance with our Annual Pre-Pay option and save 20% off the standard rate³ or just $19.99 a month.
Click here to access your Online Account and check out these options and more. If you have any questions, you can call 1-VONAGE-HELP and speak to a customer care representative.
At Vonage, we continue to provide you with the best service at the lowest possible price.
Thank you for your business,
Vonage

Here are some of my favorite parts:

¹ Maintaining Vonage service on or after your adjusted bill cycle date confirms your agreement to the rate change.

Uh, WTF? “Watch as we screw you, and you standing by and taking it is your way of agreeing!”

As an option, you might consider the Residential Unlimited Plan for only $24.99² a month. For just $7 more you will get:

Hey, we’re charging you more, so it doesn’t look so Economically bad for you to Pay us even MORE money for the same non-service! Sound good? IT’s only another $7 ! ! !

I stood by and let the fake ‘surcharges’ and other BS slide for the longest time (I’m a far stretch from when I was paying only $16.91 a month, which was a lot considering our non-home phone usage.   And then after ‘bs surcharges’ it went up to ~20 (Which was more than I paid ATT) But now, you’re raising it even more, so after surcharges I’ll be paying roughly ~25 dollars? Yea, sorry.  I don’t think so.

Who knows what type of VoIP service I will switch to in order to maintain a home phone, but I can tell you it won’t be Vonage for much longer.