Accelerating Innovation

Visual Studio 2008 Available at End of November

cerkitek — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:57:22 +0000

Microsoft will release the next version of their development platform, Visual Studio 2008 by the end of November. That means that come February 2008 the firehose will be opened once again from Microsoft with all three server releases will more than likely be available: Visual Studio 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008. And the dust really hasn’t settled yet on Visual Stusio 2005 and SQL Server 2005.

This latest version of Visual Studio will include the .NET Framework 3.5, LINQ, new tools for Microsoft Office programming and support for multiple versions of .NET but only from version 2.0 onward.

Note that J# will not be included as Microsoft has decided to drop support for it.

Tool For Editing MOSS BDC Definitions Now Available

cerkitek — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 16:31:44 +0000

The latest MOSS2007 SDK now includes this editor designed to assist in lifecycle management for Application Definition Files. The tool enables searching over databases, Web service-based repositories, and the connection for BDC Web parts in MOSS.

Download the MOSS2007 SDK here.

For questions or comments about this post, please send an email to blog@cerkitek.com.

Is It That Time Already?

cerkitek — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 21:41:31 +0000

It’s getting to be that time of year. The time when we have to change our clocks back to EDT. On November 4th Daylight Savings Time will end. Remember all the hassles and updates that we went through in the Spring? If you updated your systems then more than likely you won’t have to do anything. But if your not sure how this will affect you then visit this Microsoft site and find out if you need to do anything.

For questions or comments about this post, please send an email to blog@cerkitek.com.

A Cool Site for Icons

cerkitek — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:13:27 +0000

I just came across this site that has a large collection of very nice looking icons that are free to use.

www.FamFamFam.com

CerkiTek Accepted to AeA

cerkitek — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 03:51:15 +0000

Earlier this month CerkiTek was approved for membership in the AeA, a nationwide non-profit trade association that represents all segments of the technology industry (formerly the American Electronics Association). Two of the main reasons that we decided to pursue AeA membership were that we wanted a voice in the IT political agenda as well as member benefits such as group health insurance.

By joining the AeA, we are now able to provide group health insurance to our employees at a more attractive rate – a challenge for many of our fellow entrepreneurial companies. We realized that being able to provide a comprehensive benefit package to our dedicated staff would help us to attract top talent as we continue to grow.

We are seeing huge demand for our expertise in the area of SharePoint development right now and there is a real shortage of SharePoint developers. We realized that we need to convince good people that this is a place for them to build their career and the AeA gives us even more to offer to our employees.

Having just completed a large project in the healthcare industry, we have several more on the horizon and will need to hire developers to support fulfillment of the demand.

The AeA is the largest association of high-tech companies in the United States and provides an array of business solutions for employers and employees. With nearly 2,500 member companies, we joined an influential public policy force in the area of major interest and impact for information technology companies. The next few years will be crucial in shaping how competitive US IT companies will be against their foreign competitors. The political agenda around US Competitiveness and R&D tax reform are part of the AeA 2007 Public Policy initiatives and issues that we feel passionately about.

More about AeA
AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association), founded in 1943, is a nationwide non-profit trade association that represents all segments of the technology industry and is dedicated solely to helping their members’ top line and bottom line. They do this in partnership with our small, medium, and large member companies by lobbying governments at the state, federal, and international levels; providing access to capital and business opportunities; and offering select business services and networking programs. Their website is http://www.aeanet.org/southeast.

For questions or comments about this post, please send an email to blog@cerkitek.com.

Beware the Dangers of Pirating

cerkitek — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 03:03:25 +0000

As a Microsoft Partner CerkiTek recently received a letter explaining the new anti-piracy technologies that are now part of Windows Vista. This is a serious enough issue that Microsoft not only sent all their partners a certified letter, but they are calling them as well. The following is an excerpt from the letter that CerkiTek received:

“Microsoft is committed to helping protect consumers and software resellers from the risks and fraud associated with pirated software. Unfortunately, millions of PCs that ship each year end up with non-genuine Windows software.

Windows Vista software changes the landscape through the integration of built-in anti-piracy technologies that make widespread pirating of the operating system more difficult and less attractive to end-users. Because of the impact to non-genuine users around these important changes, we wanted to ensure we provide all our partners with a base of understanding of how these technologies work. How the technologies work:

All versions of Windows Vista must be activated with a genuine product key, either by the OEM or the end customer.

If non-genuine Windows Vista is detected during activation, the system enters a 30-day grace period where some features will be disabled, import updates and downloads denied, and a constant message on the screen will remind the customer that the operating system is non-genuine.

Following the 30-day grace period, the system will go into a reduced functionality mode until a valid key is entered. In reduced functionality mode, the user will experience:

A black desktop background with only a browser icon available

No start menu or task bar

Limited Web browser availability

Windows Vista also includes anti-piracy technology that detects non-genuine versions on an ongoing basis as updates and enhancements are installed. If non-genuine Windows Vista is detected, the system enters the 30-day grace period with the same experience described above.”

As you can see, Microsoft is taking serious measures to prevent the pirating of Windows Vista. However, this will also impact those who unknowingly bought a non-genuine copy of Windows Vista. If it is discovered that a non-genuine version is being used, serious issues can disrupt your PC’s functionality, causing a very genuine problem. Make sure that the reseller that you are buying from is selling genuine copies of Windows Vista. Be careful and be genuine. Feel free to contact CerkiTek for any questions you might have regarding purchasing Windows Vista or any Microsoft products.

For questions or comments about this post, please send an email to blog@cerkitek.com.

Accessing Virtual Disk Files With VHDMount

cerkitek — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 03:36:41 +0000

VHDMount is a new tool from Microsoft that allows you to connect (or mount) a virtual hard disk to your host operating system as if it were a seperate physical disk. This can be very useful in accessing files in the virtual hard disk or for performing backups. I’ve used it to access files when I didn’t have file sharing configured between the host and guest operating systems.

VHDMount is included in Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1, which can be downloaded from here. Registration is required before downloading.

Once installed, VHDMount can be found in the VHDMount directory where Virtual Server was installed. Usually that would be C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual Server\Vhdmount.

VHDMount is a command line utility.

Use the following command: VHDMount /p [/f] VHDFileName.

The /p parameter will connect the virtual hard disk specified in VHDFileName to the host operating system. On Windows XP it will automatically mount and assign the next available drive letter to all the partitions on the virtual hard disk. On Windows 2003 it will not mount the partitions on the virtual hard disk so you have to use the disk management console to assign drive letters or mount point in order to access the data.

On Windows Server 2003 you can use the following command:
VHDMount /m [/f] VHDFileName [DriveLetter].

The /m parameter can only be used on Windows Server 2003 and will mount all partitions on the virtual hard disk and use DriveLetter for the first partition. The rest of the partitions will get assigned incrementing drive letters as appropriate. DriveLetter is optional and if not provided the behavior is the same as using /p on Windows XP.

The /f parameter will mount the virtual hard disk without creating an Undo Disk.

To unmount the virtual hard disk use:
VHDMount /u VHDFileName [/c | /d].

The /c parameter will commit all changes that were stored in the Undo Disk. It is only applicable if the virtual hard disk was mounted without the /f parameter.

The /d parameter will discard all changes to the mounted disk. It is only applicable if the virtual hard disk was mounted without the /f parameter.

For questions or comments about this post, please send an email to blog@cerkitek.com.