Your "Presence" is Important

Do you ever experience trouble contacting certain individuals due to their hectic business calendar? Presence, “the glue of unified communications”, allows you to determine the current status and availability of these contacts. OCS 2007 incorporates communication endpoints, user availability, and user relationships. With the combination of these, users are able to effectively communicate with one another at any point in time. Ultimately, Presence reveals who is available as well as what they are currently doing. In addition, it combines voice, e-mail, IM, and other forms of communication, allowing you to decide which form will be the most productive depending on the individual’s current status.

The nice thing about Presence is you can decide how much information you want to share with other users. One contact may simply be able to see if you are available, whereas another contact has access to seeing exactly what you are currently engaged in.

We rolled out Presence in our office, and I have to admit that knowing whether someone is available or not before trying to buzz them or find them in the office is really convenient. Lots of folks have wished that keeping track of people at work was just as easy as using instant messaging.

Become Familiar with Open Source Applications

Australia has recently given every high school student their own laptop. Australia has 70,000 students in high school, and therefore this represents the number of laptops that will be distributed this year. These laptops will be Lenovo machines with Windows 7. For those who prefer open source applications, 17,000 programs are being distributed as well. The interesting thing in all of this is that the applications are fairly unfamiliar to most countries, leaving room for growth and expansion in school systems all over the world.

Some of the open source applications include Geo Gebra, MuseScore, Audacity, and FreeMind. Geo Gebra is an outstanding technology tool that aids in improving mathematics education. Its main focus is geometry, yet it expands into branches of algebra and calculus as well. MuseScore is a program that deals with music composition and notation. In fact, Macintosh has just received its delivery of this release. Audacity is an open source application for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac, Microsoft Windows, and GNU/Linux. Free Mind is a mind mapping program which allow students to outline and brainstorm.

News of these applications is in fact spreading out of Australia, and it is only a matter of time before it has hit a vast amount of countries. The area of interest at this point is whether school boards and colleges across the universe will open up to this new idea in education.

It's great to see open source applications on school machines because students should be familiar with them and understand their role. I personally already had Audacity on my laptop for basic sound editing, and after reading this article I downloaded a copy of MuseScore because I was looking for an open source notation program after I lost my CD to load Finale 2000. Now I may check out FreeMind as well!

Microsoft Launches Windows 7 with a Party

With the rollout of Windows 7 approaching, Microsoft has put a tupperware-style twist on the debut. Encouraging thousands of employees, partners, and technology enthusiasts to throw parties in their homes and communities, Microsoft hopes to spread the word about their new operating system. Although there will be no literal selling of Windows 7 at these “tupperware-styled” parties, the people accepted as the official launch party hosts will get their own copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Edition! Additionally, non-Microsoft employees who host these parties will also be eligible to win a mini-notebook computer. Microsoft employees from around the world are expected to host these parties between October 8 and 12, prior to the debut of Windows 7, while members of the public who had been accepted has party hosts are expected to hold their sanctioned parties anytime between the launch of the program on October 22 and 29.

Microsoft’s plan to instigate a word-of-mouth buzz about Windows 7 shows their confidence in the stability and compatibility of the devices and software. After all, nothing would kill the party like a system crash, but Microsoft is no stranger to these issues. Similar problems plagued the January 2007 launch of Windows Vista, creating a reputation that I’m sure Microsoft is eager to put behind them.

This is definitely a creative idea - not sure how well it panned out, but debuting Windows 7 with a house party is definitely creative.

Broadband – The Next Generation

Broadband is the capacity to deliver Internet access with a continuous “always on” connection. While today’s broadband offers significant improvements over dial-up Internet, it is still no match to the proposal of 100-megabit per second broadband. The new, high-quality applications of this connection are expected to reach 100 million homes and small businesses by the year 2010. The ability to both receive and transmit digital content or services at high speeds has the potential to significantly improve our economy. It is projected that universal access to high-speed Internet connections could produce an estimated $300 billion into the U.S. economy each year.

Since broadband is the foundation for continued technological and economic leadership, it is essential that the United States continue to invest in a next-generation broadband infrastructure. Currently, the U.S falls behind our global competitors in broadband deployment. Many states recognize the transformational impact that broadband can have on the economy and its citizens, and subsequently, these states have adopted state policies to stimulate broadband deployment and demand.

Technology Goes Green!

“Go Green!” It is a phrase that has become so popular in our culture, and it is largely because of the world’s energy crisis that can no longer be ignored. With national security, environment, and economic challenges, the nation as a whole is making changes in the way we live our day-to-day lives, and the world of technology is no exception.

The technology industry is developing new alternative and renewable energy technologies including advances in solar, wind, biofuel, energy efficiency, and fuel cell technologies as well as developing technology products and services that drive energy efficiency and environmental improvement. These innovations hold the potential to be the next great disruptive technologies, especially with the future of our nation as a great concern. We can all take part in protecting our environment by encouraging outreach efforts in promoting and educating the nation about green technologies and by highlighting new technologies and innovation as a critical part in the solution to global energy and environmental challenges.

The First Computer Virus?

A program named “Rother J” was the first computer virus to come into sight “in the wild” — that is, outside the single computer or lab where it was created. Created in 1981 by Richard Skrenta, it attached itself to the Apple DOS 3.3 operating system and spread via floppy disk. This virus was created as a practical joke when Richard Skrenta was still in high school. It was injected in a game on a floppy disk. On its 50th use the Elk Cloner virus would be activated, infecting the computer and displaying a short poem beginning “Elk Cloner: The program with a personality.”