Archive for April, 2009
I Miss You Mom!
I am participating in the 2009 Komen Salt Lake City Race for the Cure in honor of my mother, Susan Ferguson, who passed away from breast cancer 6 years ago. She was an incredible nurse and teacher, and an even better Mother.
One in eight women will be stricken with breast cancer in her lifetime. The Komen Salt Lake City Race for the Cure® raises money to fund education, screening and treatment programs for these women and thousands of others in our own community and supports the national search for a cure.
The Komen Race for the Cure® Series is the largest series of 5K run/ walks in the world. Since its origination in Dallas in 1983, the Komen Race for the Cure® Series has grown from one local race with 800 participants to an international series of 117 races with more than 1.3 million participants.
Remember, no donation is too small and every penny helps!
Donate Today! (Click on ‘Support Spencer!’)
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Wasatch Software of Salt Lake City, UT has been awarded the Licensing Solutions Competency by Microsoft. This achievement recognizes our organization’s expertise in software licensing with a specific focus on software license delivery. The competency was awarded based on several factors, including the following:
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# of Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCP) on staff
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Successful completion of license delivery exams by staff
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References from our licensing customers
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Minimum amount of revenue generated for Microsoft in licensing sales
The award is especially appreciated as software licensing has been core to Wasatch Software’s offerings since being founded in 2002. Related software license services include:
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Sales and procurement
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License history reports and tracking
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Renewal notifications and tracking
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Software Asset Management
With numerous licensing options and programs (Open License, Open Value, Open Volume, etc.) licensing can be a confusing undertaking. Should you ever have a question, don’t hesitate to contact Wasatch Software for free software license consulting.
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View from my hotel room at the Philidadelphia Marriott Downtown
It was my pleasure to visit Philadelphia for a conference from April 19th through 22nd. The infrastructure of Philadelphia, as you might imagine, is very mature (old). You can see history almost everywhere you go. I was also impressed with the city’s sports complex (South Philadelphia Sports Complex). All of their major stadiums for all sports were right next to each other. However, much of the city was a bit rundown and Philly certainly seemed to have its fair share of less than desirable neighborhoods.
The people in Philadelphia are very friendly, and I can see how the nickname ‘City of Brotherly Love’ came about. Each time I went out on the town with friends/colleagues we ran into locals that were more than happy to show us to their favorite local watering hole. We enjoyed a number of great stops from Market Street to South Street.
Unfortunately, the recurring theme of the trip was cloudiness and rain. The Phillies/Padres game I purchased tickets for was rained out. The game is to be made up on July 23rd. The tickets are good for that game, or can be exchanged prior to that date for entry into any other Phillies game. Being from Utah, I’m not sure that either alternative will work out for me. Does anyone know someone from Philly that might be interested in 4 tickets?
Of course, I had to get an authentic Philly Cheese Steak while I was out there. I asked a Pennsylvania native where I should go and he recommended Pat’s. It was excellent! Certainly better than anything I could get here at home. Gino’s was also pretty good. However, the best cheese steak I had came from the Midtown II Restaurant.
All in all, it was a decent trip. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch a Phillies game next time I find myself there!
HP Increased Market Share as Global PC Sales Fell
Here’s a great article from Lawrence Walsh over at ChannelInsider:
“As worldwide PC sales fall 7.1 percent in the first quarter, Dell continues to hemorrhage market share to HP. And there’s a new worry for Dell: Acer could be next to overtake the Texas computer manufacturer…” The Rest of the Story…
I honestly don’t mind seeing Dell lose market share to HP and Acer!
On the 19th I head off to the Varnex. The conference is put on by IT product distributor Synnex, and will be held in Philadelphia. Looking ahead, here are some lists of things I do and don’t want to see:
NO, THANK YOU…
1- Digital Signage: Synnex has really pushed this at their events over the past few years. To be honest, I’m a little “digitally signed out”. Sure, Wasatch Software would love to add digital signage to our repertoire. However, this is a complimentary offering, and we are more focused on building our core services right now.
2- Printing Solutions: This seems to be another pet offering of Synnex. Sorry, I have also had my fill of pitches on managed print services and all the other printer related stuff. Another complimentary offering to what Wasatch is all about. Maybe another day I’ll decide to get this part of the business going.
YES, I WANT MORE…
1- Network Monitoring Solutions: Wasatch Software is on the cusp of choosing a new network monitoring solution for our managed services program. I look forward to talking with some of my colleagues about what they’re using, and also with vendors. I do have one particular solution in mind and plan to get a test unit shipped back to the office while I’m in Philly.
2- Business Building Workshops: I always love these sessions. Sure, not everything on the schedule can be a workshop, but these make the trip worth it.
3- Roundtable Discussions: The only better way to talk with peers about what is and isn’t working is over a cocktail.
Now you have my two cents. Naturally, many of my colleagues will have differing opinions. I guess that’s why we have a ton of choices at these events!
Kaspersky Lab
While visiting a friend’s house tonight a discussion arose about a computer virus that she had received. Not being an extremely experienced computer user, she was somewhat perplexed. She was constantly receiving pop-ups on her system that appeared to be an antivirus program alerting her that she had been infected. Of course, this was actually a virus designed to get the user to pay what would appear to be a subscription fee, but was anything but. The name of this malware was ‘Spyware Protect 2009’ or ‘sysguard.exe’. So, what was the solution to this issue? This was a pretty simple fix. I uninstalled the expired copy of Symantec on her system and installed a trial version of Kaspersky Internet Security. After getting the latest updates, I right clicked the file that appeared to be infected and had Kaspersky scan it. The malware was quickly detected and removed. After a reboot all was back to normal. I like the easy ones like that!
Shameless Sales Pitch: Is your business experiencing computer security or virus issues? Contact the experts at Wasatch Software today!
Here are your average IT guys (not at Wasatch Software, of course)! BTW, this show (The IT Crowd) is hilarious!
If you’re like me you won’t be golfing on the PGA tour anytime soon. However, there is a silver lining after a long round of pitching balls into bushes and lakes. Watching Charles’ Barkley’s golf swing is sure to make you feel better!
After initially promising an April 1 launch, Apple today brings its only slightly delayed new pricing scheme to the public. To catch you up, the big news is that DRM (digital rights management) is now a thing of the past, meaning that from now on, you can play the iTunes store files you buy on any computer that has iTunes, and you can pass those files along to anyone you wish. The rest of the story…
Microsoft Certified Professional
Sweet! Today I became a Microsoft Certified Professional in the following:
‘Designing and Providing Microsoft Volume Licensing Solutions to Small and Medium Business Organizations’.
What a mouthful! I probably should have done this some time ago as I’ve either been working on Microsoft’s Sales and Licensing Team or running my own software license resell company for nearly 10 years now. However, it wasn’t until recently that I found out Wasatch Software would become a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner if 2 people from our organization passed the exam (Jake Boden from our company takes the exam tomorrow).
The test really wasn’t too tough. As is the case with many Microsoft exams, you have to think how Microsoft wants you to think, and not how you would if you were faced with such licensing scenarios in real life. If you happen to be involved in software licensing, this is a worthwhile exam to take!