Archive for the ‘Everything Else’ Category

In a Windows 8 Server-related job listing I ran across on Microsoft’s Careers site today, the Data Lifecycle Management (DLM) team is looking for a Software Design Engineer in Test (SDET) to, “…collaborate with many Windows teams to ship a quality backup solution in [the] Win 8 timeframe.” Also to quote, the DLM team has “…just released System Center Data Protection Manager 2010 (DPM) (Version 3 release) to a multi-billion dollar data protection market and are currently working on the Version 4 of the DPM Product and Windows Server 8 backup.”

The aforementioned are the juicy bits of the job ad, but here’s the full thing in its glory — should you be interested in possibly applying for it :

Exciting career opportunities in Data Lifecycle Management (DLM) team!

v Join a team that is in start-up mode – A team where your technical skills and quality aptitude will make a great impact on the product’s success
v See how your customer engagements and technical contributions clearly impact the market, touch customers & partners!
v Be part of a team that is building a winning strategy & a successful product, in a highly competitive landscape!

“Never lose your data” is our simple, yet high impact promise to our customers. We are organized as a Product Unit in the System Center Division, with full business charter & complete end to end ownership of developing data protection & data lifecycle management solutions. We own inbox data protection platform & solution in Windows as well as Data Protection Manager for backup of all Microsoft workloads like Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, Hyper-V, Laptops and File Server. We have just released System Center Data Protection Manager 2010 (DPM) (Version 3 release) to a multi-billion dollar data protection market and are currently working on the Version 4 of the DPM Product and Windows Server 8 backup.

If you are a lead who can lead a highly energetic team of testers, have hands-on experience testing products, have strong test design and development skills, are great in solving technical challenges, and you want to help create next generation software for data lifecycle management solutions then we want to talk with you. Come be a part of a team where quality is top priority and the opportunity to make a difference is huge.

You will have an opportunity to work on Windows backup and will have to collaborate with many Windows teams to ship a quality backup solution in Win 8 timeframe. You will work in feature teams where you will have very close interaction with Dev/PM counterparts to create huge impact in the backup space!

For more information on Windows Server Backup, visit Microsoft’s “Windows Server Backup” page on Technet.

Windows Server 8 Job Ad: Click Here

-Stephen Chapman
http://msftkitchen.com

If you’ve never seen the Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs comics, they’re pretty funny! Here’s an example of one:

Anyway, after looking at a bunch of them for the past day or so, I decided to cook one up of my own based on the one thing I think about the most when I get into debates with Apple bigots (no, I’m not saying that all people who use Apple products are bigots; I’m just talking about the Apple fans who act high-and-mighty). If you don’t understand what I’m referencing in the comic, then take a few minutes to watch the video clip I’ve posted just beneath it. It will all make sense then. Anyway, here is my spin on the Bill Gates versus Steve Jobs comics:

And that’s it! If you’re interested in cooking up your own, I’ve provided a template below. The first comic that I posted at the top and the template below are courtesy of these guys.

Make Your Own Bill Gates Vs. Steve Jobs Comic: Download Here

-Stephen

Since writing the following short on a particular Windows 7 certification practice test that was made freely available, I’ve received a number of emails from people inquiring about Microsoft certifications in general; everything from if they’re a valid means of getting you out of where you are job-wise and into something much more enjoyable to Microsoft training classes, where people can take the tests, exam costs, et al. As for their validity, Microsoft certifications can absolutely be the way to go if you’re looking to get into a new career.

There are quite a number of choices you can make where Microsoft certifications are concerned: MCAS, MCITP, MCPD, MCSA, MCSE, MCTS, etc. So, where do you start to learn about all of them? Naturally, Microsoft’s Web site is a great point of reference. Check out the Microsoft Certification Overview page to get a feel for how extensive these programs actually are. If you want to take it a step further, you can have a look at Wikipedia’s Microsoft certification page to see how the certifications have changed through the years. Only then will you get a good feel for their legitimacy (part of why they are very credible ways to make a grand entrance into a new field of technical expertise).

Once you make the decision to really dig in, the next step is to start studying interactively or locally at a school or training facility like ACE, CPCC, or wherever is local/convenient for you. The cost of training is ultimately up to how you choose to learn, but where the exams themselves are concerned, each one costs about $125 to take. One look at Indeed shows that a job requiring MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) credentials has the potential to pay and pay big — just another justification for putting in the effort to attain certified status (the other justification being job satisfaction)!

So, if you’ve been considering certification, start by asking yourself what your goal is. What do you want to achieve? When you get a rough idea, begin browsing job sites like Indeed, Career Builder, Monster, et al and see what kind of qualifications/certifications are expected of you. Sites like Indeed will also provide a salary range on the left-hand side of the site, so you can get a good idea of if compensation will be sufficient for the time you put in to begin your new career.

All the best to you should you decide to make the move and step towards a new career as an MCP!

-Stephen

Before I get into this, let me just say that I never thought I would actually join the ranks of the masses who have experienced something now commonly referred to as “Dell Hell.” With that said, please allow what’s to follow to serve as a cautionary tale should you currently be considering the purchase of a new Dell machine.

I’m going to start with the conclusion for those of you who want the end result up front. Long story short, I’m out $1000 and there’s not a damn thing I’ve been able to do about it through the channels of Dell’s support systems that us mere mortals are left to contend with. So, here I am resorting to writing a post and then sending it to everyone I can until I hopefully get the attention of someone who cares. DO NOT order a Dell system online if you want to split the charges between a Dell preferred account and your own card! If you do, make sure you’ve got enough in the bank just in case Dell decides to charge your card for the full amount PLUS the amount that they should have charged you for in the first place (that’s right; you may initially be out the grand total of the FULL cost of your purchase PLUS the amount you initially intended to go on your card)!

To take it back to the beginning, I was interested in purchasing a Dell m11x. They were running a $300-off special, so I decided I would configure one via the Web site, see how much it cost, then apply for a Dell preferred account. Well, I was happy to be instantly approved for a $1000 credit limit on a Dell preferred account! I’m always up for building my credit, so this was a great opportunity — or so I thought. After being ridiculously careful with how I went about paying for the m11x, I selected to put $1000 onto the Dell preferred account and have the remainder charged to my debit card. The VERY last thing I could have happen was to have all $1400+ extracted from my bank account because then I wouldn’t be able to make rent.

Well, that was a Saturday night. Low and behold, I check my bank account the following Tuesday and sure as the day is long, Dell charged the full freakin’ amount to my debit card! At this point, I was already furious because I was EXTREMELY careful to see to this very thing not having even the slightest possibility of happening. Now I couldn’t make rent. Thanks, Dell!

After calling Dell and discussing the matter with them, they said I would have refund of the full amount, then they would split the charge as it should have been split: $1000 to my Dell preferred account and $400+ to my debit. I had to give what I felt was a really stupid excuse to my renters for being a bit late with my rent (who actually says, “uh, yeah, I need a few days because I bought a laptop but got overcharged by Dell”), but whatever. It is what it is… or so I thought. By the way, the person I initially spoke with at Dell was as helpful as she could be, bless her heart (she still continues to try to be helpful beyond what she has control over).

Well, after sending a very long email and requesting it be sent up the appropriate channels to have the Dell site looked at for errors with their payment system, I continued to monitor my bank account. A day or two later, the charge for $1400+ disappeared. Completely gone. Those funds were unlocked and it seemed everything was in good standing. Soon afterwords (within another day or two), I noticed a charge for the correct amount of $400+ out of my account. Great! They dropped the original charged, opened those funds back up, then took out the right amount I had originally provisioned. Everything stayed like this for the next two days and it seemed like a resolution to the matter, so I started using my card as I normally would have.

5 days later, I get a letter from my bank. Basically, it states my account has been overdrawn by over $300. I immediately fly through the roof and go running into my office to check my bank account. The NIGHT of the final time I checked my bank account, Dell ONCE AGAIN charged my card for $1400. ON TOP of the $400+ they correctly extracted. So now, Dell had a total of $1800+ drawn out of my account. UNBELIEVABLE. I immediately go to my bank, express my concerns and tell them that I’m looking for someone to blame here, because I used my account in a typical fashion based on the data that was provided for me. My account history shows I’ve been anything *but* reckless as well.

Well, the day I received the letter above, I just so happened to get refunded the $1400 that was charged a week prior — but not before the damage had been done. There was now a total ~7 days worth of pre-authorization charges that were charged overdraft fees since my bank makes decisions based on available balance and not currently balance.

Now it was REALLY on.

I called Dell the next Monday since everything in the last two paragraphs that consisted of “in the now” transpired over the course of a Saturday and Dell’s financial services aren’t opened on the weekend. I got a hold of a woman who Dell decided to name “Alex.” Come to find out, the people who were in charge of this whole thing didn’t even transfer the $1000 balance to my Dell preferred account! Had I known that — as well as the fact that things were going to get to this point — I just wouldn’t have called them and there I would have had the $1000 inadvertently recuperated! Anyway, this was just one more incompetent action (or lack thereof) of Dell’s financial department. If I wasn’t taking notes by this point, I would have certainly started then.

After finding this out, Alex was very quick to apologize that my $1000 hadn’t been activated on my Dell preferred account (which, I couldn’t have cared less about since my concern was the $1000 in overdraft fees incurred by someone’s recklessness with my debit card). Once I finally got her to understand what my *real* concern was, she gave me a fax number (512-283-0029) and told me to fax specific details to the attention of “Payment Research.” I created a very detailed cover letter with adequate credentials to get a hold of me. Following the cover letter I faxed them was a second page; a letter that I had my bank draw up when I went to see them about this on Saturday. The letter expressed the overdraft charges that were incurred due to Dell’s recklessness and contained more than enough ways to engage my bank.

I was told I would hear back from someone within 48 hours. I needed something done THEN but I realized I would just have to cool my jets and give them at least 24 hours. Well, fast-forward to now (one week later after submitting my fax and trying to follow up with them numerous times) and I’ve spoken with up to 8 people — first- and second-tier support as well as managers — and where have I ended up? I’ve ended up with having to explain to each of these people the SAME PROBLEM over and over and over and over and over and over again an NONE OF THEM UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT. If they don’t think I’m referring to the $1000 credit limit (which they were VERY quick to see to getting thrown on my Dell preferred account), then I have someone condescendingly telling me that all Dell would owe at the most would be $60 in overdraft charges for the two items I ordered (laptop + case).

Oh, and to top things off? I asked the last person I spoke to who the heck “Payment Research” is and THEY HAD NO IDEA. So, here, I’ve been waiting this WHOLE TIME for absolutely NOTHING; all the while, calling and being told over-and-over again that I just have to continue to wait until they hear something back about the investigation into my account. So, here I have been completely left out-to-dry because of Dell’s faulty online system to accurately split Dell preferred account amounts with credit/debit card purchases, followed by their making damn sure they had their $400+ before giving me a refund, but only AFTER the original pre-authorization charges disappeared!

The only option I was given from the last guy I could barely understand was to dispute the charges for the laptop. You know where that would leave me? Still $1000 in the hole with overdraft charges because any amount refunded would be what I’ve already paid anyway. Not being understood is INCREDIBLY frustrating and a COMPLETE waste of my time as a consumer. I’ve tried as hard as I can to get my bank and Dell interfacing with these issues but to no avail. I’m a pretty proactive person, so if *I’ve* had this much trouble, I can only imagine how frustrating a situation like this has been for a non-technical, non-aggressive person.

My feeling is that Dell just doesn’t give a crap when things like this happen. I’m sorry, but a company with the reputation of Dell should have systems in place to quickly alleviate a situation like this. If “Payment Research” is investigating anything, it’s probably any and every way to cover up the tracks of whoever the imbecile was that decided to have a field day with my card!

If I had even the slightest inclination that this would happen, I would have nixed my overdraft protection so that the second wave of charges wouldn’t have gone through. Wow, imagine how inconvenient that might have been for Dell! What would Dell have done if they were unable to take $1800 out of a little peon’s bank account? Who knows, but I’m sure it would have been something along the lines of a threat. Is that really how you operate, Dell?

I absolutely refuse to sit idly by while this situation stands as-is. Dell, you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m going to make as much noise as I can and trust me; it’s going to take a lot more than the prospect of a free laptop to shut me up and make this better. You’ve affected my livelihood and caused a whirlwind of financial troubles for me. All I want is a resolution to the matter and to be covered for the amount of money I was charged in overdraft fees thanks to Dell’s inadequate system. As I write this, I still sit in disbelief that I’m having to do this with Dell. I hope my speaking out costs you even just a fraction of the financial woes you’ve stuck me with. I know it won’t matter to you because you’re Dell and you can afford it. It’s just a shame that a business would actually take the liberty to charge someone the total of the full amount of a product when not supposed to, then take the amount they *were* supposed to *on top of that* before having refunded the initial erroneously charged amount in the first place! Dell, you may have the money to operate in that manner, but those of us who are applying for Dell preferred accounts in the first place, don’t.

Disgusted with Dell,
Stephen Chapman

I’m just passing along information contained in an email sent to me this morning. If you’re interested in obtaining Windows 7 certification, this may be an avenue for you to consider. ExamForce (click their name to head to their Twitter page) is offering a free Windows 7 practice test that is apparently comparable to the test that will land you a “MCTS: Windows 7, Configuration” certificate. If you’re interested, head on over to the following link and sign up:

ExamForce’s 70-680: TS: Windows 7, Configuring Exam Preparation

And, no, I am not affiliated with ExamForce at all — I just thought someone out there might be interested. If so, then best of luck!

-Stephen

Ahhh, it’s a Microsoft kind of morning! I woke up, checked my Hotmail account as I do every day, and was greeted with a rather odd (yet quite humorous) series of emails from Microsoft! See the screen shot below:

An email from Microsoft with the subject “tbd” sounded rather interesting, so I started with it first. All-in-all, it was nothing special; just an OEM Partner Center newsletter dated August 16th which contained a contest, various partner-related training opportunities, etc. Next, I read the email with the subject “Updated Subject.” As you might have guessed, it was a repeat of the “tbd” email — same date on the newsletter and everything, despite the fact that it was sent the next day. I suppose the importance of it is the contest offering a chance to win a 42″ plasma TV. If you’re interested in said contest, visit the following link to read the rules and details: http://oem.microsoft.com/script/contentpage.aspx?pageid=566235

So, the long and short of it is that I found it hilarious that Microsoft sent out an email with the subject “tbd,” then sent out the same email a day later with an updated subject. Personally, I don’t see why they couldn’t have just waited a day to send out the email… or why coming up with a subject other than “tbd” was such an arduous task in the first place.

I’m just poking fun, though. I love you, Microsoft. =)

-Stephen

Well, after quite an exciting day of Windows 8 information leaking its way out to the Internet, it appears Microsoft is officially on the war path to finding who leaked the information in the first place. As noted on Twitter by Tom Warren of Neowin, the blog of Francisco Martin — one of the first to bring some of this Windows 8 information to light — has apparently been nixed by Microsoft (his blog resided on spaces.live.com). The earliest that these slides can be traced back is to the Website win7vista.com (thanks to @tom_warren for the link).

The documents were originally XPS files converted to PDFs with the goal of removing any incriminating watermarks. Well, win7vista.com made a mistake. As “DanielRemains” — the individual who posted the leaked content — notes, “I spent many hours working on these on removing watermarks etc.” Unfortunately, he seemed to miss a slide and it has undoubtedly brought some unwanted attention to one Derek Goode from HP. Here’s the slide which shows his email address (Update: email address removed from slide by request):

Whether or not Derek Goode is the individual who leaked the slides directly, if it was a colleague who did it behind his back, or some other scenario, Microsoft is clearly on the prowl. win7vista.com wanted all the credit, so I hope they’re ready for what’s about to ensue. Don’t be surprised if many of these posts around the Internet involving this Windows 8 documentation suddenly disappear.

-Stephen Chapman
http://msftkitchen.com

This is just a test. This post will be removed soon.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 1
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 2
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 3
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 4
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 5

Thanks to Android Central for the heads-up about this.

Yes, it’s true! Windows 3.1 on Android is the latest addition to the “let’s-see-what-all-we-can-get-Windows-3.1-running-on” benchmark. An Android enthusiast by the name of “drraccoon” thought it would be a fun idea to try to install Windows 3.1 on Android and the result is an ultimately useless but really cool (in a geeky sort of way) implementation of an ancient OS on a mobile device! Check out the screen shot below:

*Image courtesy of drraccoon

I don’t want to steal his glory by posting his method here (it’s really simple), but I *will* make a contribution by providing you a download link to the Windows 3.1 ISO which contains the installation files you will need should you choose to give this a shot yourself (they’re in a self-extracting .exe file I created with WinRAR, so I know this is virus-free).

Download: Windows 3.1 ISO

Now, go visit the source to obtain everything else you need to install Windows 3.1 on Android and feel free to post your results and/or ideas to try as I would certainly be interested to hear of everyone’s progress — especially if any of you give Windows 95 (something drraccoon also seems interested in attempting) a shot or some other legacy Microsoft program/game!

Source: drraccoon’s Android Blog

-Stephen Chapman

http://www.msftkitchen.com

This post is my gratuitous offer to Microsoft to help them track down websites of piracy advocates who store and/or share activation cracks and similar nuisances. This all started as an experiment to see how many ways I could find a particular file and I’ve come to the conclusion that Microsoft probably either isn’t implementing half the methods I’ve devised or they don’t have the time/interest or a person/team in-house or outsourced dedicated to formulating solutions like this. I’ve cherry-picked two methods to delve into, then listed some action items to follow through with in taking said methods into consideration.

I would use Bing for these examples, but I’m still waiting for an all-encompassing guide for using advanced syntax usage in Bing. Usually, when I try to replicate my Google methods in Bing (yes, I make sure I’m using Bing’s syntax where applicable), the results are dismal. Anyway, I’d like to think someone at Microsoft will see this for what it is and bring me in to really get creative with this stuff, because there’s a whooooooole lot more where this came from! But I won’t hold my breath, because in the words of one Tony Lucca, “if I held my breath, you’d be the death of me.” lol.

Method 1: Use the following query in Google (I’ve even hyper-linked it for your pleasure):

 

intitle:index.of removewat21 | removewat22 | removewat*

 

Results: A large number of personal websites where they have the RemoveWAT file stored and directly accessible for anyone to immediately download.

Method 2: Go to Google. Click “more” and then click “Blogs.” Now, perform a search using the following query and then, on the left-hand side, click, “Sorted by date” (yes, I’ve hyper-linked this one as well already using the aforementioned steps):

 

removewat21 | removewat22 | removewat*

 

Results: An ever-expanding list of blogs linking to the file(s) you’re interested in getting off the internet. Most of them link to file sharing services, but that’s a major score as well.

Action Items: Bearing in mind the methods above, the next thing is to gather a list of as many variables of the RemoveWAT file name as you can, such as scene release names, shortened versions, etc. and interchange them throughout the queries. Rinse and repeat the process with other activation crack technologies and voila. From there, of course, gather contact information from somewhere on the site, perform a whois search, etc. to contact the individual(s) to remove the file or simply send a DMCA take-down request to the host or whatever legal actions Microsoft has to adhere to.

Also, you can get more extensive with the research portion and use Yahoo Site Explorer or SEOmoz’s Open Site Explorer to search for inbound links to the links harvested via method 1. The results are a mixed bag where that’s concerned, but I’ve found that Google typically yields those results after spidering the site from a completely separate entry point, so whether or not the person posted the file in a public forum or simply posted something completely irrelevant and Google happened to spider its way to the particular file is up in the air until additional research is performed.

Oh, and while you’re at it, you might as well try to make this process as automated, productive and facile as possible by setting up some Google Alerts (or something similar) for all the terms/queries you come up with and keep an eye on when new sites are indexed with those file names. What a great way of finding and getting rid of those files from (probably) a completely untapped avenue.

There! I’ve officially put my personal information-finding and off-page SEO research methods to good use for Microsoft’s anti-piracy endeavors. =) But bear in mind, the aforementioned methods and action items are just the tip of the iceberg. If I so chose, I could use just about any Microsoft product for free without ever touching a P2P application or utilizing a crack — all thanks to Google and absolutely careless individuals out there. There’s a lot out there; you just have to know how to find it.

Happy hunting, Microsoft.

-Stephen Chapman

http://www.msftkitchen.com