Tag Archives | Microsoft

LAMP – Linux, Apache, Microsoft?!?!!, PHP?

By Ted Roche on January 14, 2011 in Technology

For a new client project, I’m configuring LAMP in a way I have not before. The “M” in LAMP, often referred to as Middleware or the trademark of a certain database, is Microsoft in this case, Microsoft SQL Server.

My development workstation is running Fedora 14 and I installed the following to get it working: unixODBC, FreeTDS and php-odbc. (The other components were already installed.) In order to get it working (the target server is up and running, that’s another rant/post), I followed the how-to at http://www.unixodbc.org/doc/FreeTDS.html. Taking care to do the intermediate tests with tsql and isql, and then configuring the PHP CodeIgniter framework to use odbc (with one tweak to the source), I was up and running!

The power of Open Source continues to amaze me.

Ken Levy leaving Microsoft

By Ted Roche on July 13, 2008 in FoxPro, Microsoft

Ken blogs, “After working at Microsoft for over 7 years as an employee and almost 5 years before that as a contractor/vendor, I’ve decided it’s time for me to do become independent and start my own company. My official last day at Microsoft is July 18th. I’ve enjoyed all the years working at Microsoft since the early 90s, especially with great people making many friends along the way.”

Read about his new venture at: http://mashupx.com/blog. Best of luck, Ken!

FoxPro Advisor, RIP

By Ted Roche on October 14, 2007 in FoxPro, Technology

From the Advisor website:

This information is for you, if you are a current subscriber to any of these Advisor magazines, journals or guides: Microsoft Access, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visual FoxPro, Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Professional Development, Microsoft Visual Basic .NET, IBM Lotus Software, IBM WebSphere Software, IBM Workplace Software, Novell GroupWise, Business Collaboration, Corporate Compliance, E-Discovery, Law Technology… Your subscription has been upgraded to DataBased Advisor, giving you more than 10,000 articles, tips and downloads — at no charge.

And another kicker:

Even though a new subscription to DataBased Advisor carries a much higher price tag, you are getting it at no extra charge for the duration of your current subscription.

Looks like new subscriptions are $277 a year. Good luck to John and Jeannie on this new venture!

Clippy on a rampage: exploit code appears for Microsoft Agent bug

By Ted Roche on September 13, 2007 in Home Page, Microsoft, Security

September 13, 2007 Computerworld —Exploit code appears for Microsoft Agent bug “It took less than 24 hours for attackers to crank out proof-of-concept code targeting the one critical vulnerability disclosed — and patched — Tuesday morning by Microsoft, security researchers warned.” Ouch. A Day One exploit. Hopefully, Microsoft’s distribution of their updated Agent patches via Windows Update will be speedier than the bad guy’s spreading of their exploit.

September 2007 Microsoft patches on their way…

By Ted Roche on September 12, 2007 in Home Page, Microsoft, Security

The SANS Internet Storm Center presents an overview of the September 2007 Microsoft patches and their status: several “remote code exploit” issues with Office, Messenger, the Crystal Reports bundled in Visual Studio and the Microsoft Services for UNIX. Exploits are in the wild for some of these, so plan on patching soon!

Jim Louderback: Passing the Torch

By Ted Roche on August 22, 2007 in Linux, Microsoft, Technology

I’ve been disappointed for years that “PC” Magazine didn’t recognize that Windows was just one option of what to run on a “PC.” In his farewell column as Editor-in-Chief of PC Magazine, Jim Louderback give Microsoft a kick in the, uh, pants:

“I could go on and on about the lack of drivers, the bizarre wake-up rituals, the strange and nonreproducible system quirks, and more. But I won’t bore you with the details. The upshot is that even after nine months, Vista just ain’t cutting it. I definitely gave Microsoft too much of a free pass on this operating system: I expected it to get the kinks worked out more quickly. Boy, was I fooled! If Microsoft can’t get Vista working, I might just do the unthinkable: I might move to Linux.”

Microsoft fixes 14 flaws in 9 patches; 6 are critical – Security – News – ZDNet Asia

By Ted Roche on August 17, 2007 in Microsoft, Security

ZDNet Asia does a nice job of summarizing August’s MS patches: Microsoft fixes 14 flaws in 9 patches; 6 are critical. Lots of critical software to patch: XML processing, Office, OLE Automation, GDI and Internet Explorer means that every Windows installation is threatened by “Remote Code Execution” — someone else owning your machine. Get Patching!

Ed Fosters Gripelog || No Shame Over Bogus Eli/New Hill Subscriptions

By Ted Roche on August 2, 2007 in FoxPro

Over at Ed Fosters Gripelog, No Shame Over Bogus Eli/New Hill Subscriptions takes on one of the worst operations I’ve ever had the misfortune to get tangled up with:

I’m occasionally accused of focusing too much on the minor sins of the technology giants instead of exposing more of the outright scams perpetrated by lesser-known companies. And there might be something to that criticism. But one reason I lean that way is that at least the Microsofts and HPs have enough of a sense of shame that they will try to fix some of the problems we air. That doesn’t tend to be true of the shadier outfits, such as the Eli Journals/New Hill Services publishing operation.

The FoxTalk journal was one of the best. I published my first FoxPro article with them, back in 1992, and subscribed for over a decade. It’s sad to see them go out in such an ugly manner.

Resistance is not futile

By Ted Roche on July 7, 2007 in Microsoft, OpenSource, Technology

Tim O’Reilly notes in Update: Firefox vs. IE in OReilly Network Logs, “as of last month, Firefox passed IE, with 46% of all access to OReilly sites, vs IEs 45%.” Now, one percent is not significant, and the cause can likely be explained in a number of ways; perhaps there are more popular FOSS books than new Vista books in the past few months. But it is great to see that competition continues to prod Microsoft to compete, and inspires Mozilla to achieve.

ongoing · I’ve Seen This Movie

By Ted Roche on June 13, 2007 in Home Page, Linux, Microsoft, OpenSource, Technology

Tim Bray is ticked and he’s not going to take it any more: in I’ve Seen This Movie, Tim blogs,

One would assume that the world’s largest software company, when facing a technology choice, would take the trouble to actually, you know, understand the technologies involved, but the evidence doesn’t support that assumption.
Why? · The thing is, I’ve seen this movie before: The movie where there’s an emerging standard that’s got some buzz and looks promising and maybe it’ll raise the tide and float all our boats a little higher, and then Microsoft says they won’t play.

Geez. Nothing new on the internet but repeats. There’s a great conclusion. Worth reading the entire post.

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