Microsoft's Windows Small Business Server 2011

I've just completed my first Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011 installation. It has been a successful exploration of the new features and wizards of Server 2008 R2, Exchange 2010 and Sharepoint 2010. Though I'm impressed that most of the server software management functions are readily available to the novice user some of the settings, logs, reports, etc. have been buried even further into the depths. Email in particular is difficult to monitor. User's file replication and sharing sharing appears easier to configure with wizards to move this data, email storage are readily available and easy to follow.

The full Microsoft Outlook licences have now been removed completely and replaced by Outlook Web Access. No problem for novice users but Outlook aficionados will struggle to accept this will be forced to buy a Office 2010 version that includes the full program. Pity as most client computers now come with acceptable Word and Excel Office 2010 Starter variants.

All-in-all, a good upgrade from Microsoft for small companies who want to manage, secure and protect their data in an affordable, integrated package.

The Lure of Quad Core

I've always been a proponent of having more than one processor in a computer. Right from the early days of my Intergraph TD3 workstation which had two original Intel Pentium 90MHz CPUs and ran the first version of Microsoft's Windows NT. The ability to multi-task and the benefit of improved response time was immediately obvious. You could continue to work while printing or formatting a floppy.

Now, I'm convinced that quad core CPUs are almost the bare minimum for effective working. Both my admin and games systems both have four cores and the responsiveness is even better than dual core. Fast true quad core processors like the new Intel Core i5-2400 and plenty of memory is the way to go. Things just happen when you want them to.