I have had the good fortune to test both the Palm Pre and Apple iPhone 3Gs. In my day job I am an architect with responsibilities over messaging and mobility – hence I get to try a lot of new devices in order to evaluate their applicability for our enterprise users. One thing I have come to regard as a universal truth is that ranking mobile devices is almost a waste of time. They are so subjective depending on the personal habits and preferences of the person using them.
There are some things that a certain group of users will find in common - “good email experience”, “works well as a phone” or “good signal coverage and strength.” But even in these general areas there is a wide variety of experiences and preferences. With this in mind I followed all of the hype, tweets and reviews leading up to the release of these two devices. Twitter global searches are a great way to get a feel for how a device is being experienced by the Twittering public. Flaws or cool features quickly bubble to the surface via re-tweets or a preponderance of similar topics across tweets.
I have used both devices for about a week each and here are some of my completely un-scientific observations:
- The Palm Pre implementation for Exchange ActiveSync mail is completely unsuited for enterprise companies. There is no support for remote wipe, enforcing password policies,etc. In fact, if you currently force the acceptance of these policies, you will not be able to download mail to your Pre without an exception.
- You can remote wipe the device yourself from the Pre website you register at upon starting the phone for the first time. You can also set a screen lock PIN on the device. However, these require the user to enforce them, generally not an accepted company compliance policy.
- Exchange email is also very basic in what it offers – which is even less than what the iPhone v1 offered. You can read, send, reply, forward. You can cut and paste.
- Outside of the email experience, the Pre operates very nicely. It is mostly responsive and crisp, only slowing when there were more than 5 or 6 apps open at the same time.
- I had no issue with the buttons on the keyboard and was able to adjust to using them with my sausage-like fingers in minutes. I also had no issue with the edges of the slide-out keyboard. I did not find it overly sharp or cut myself on it. Perhaps I have thick skin!
- The phone is very comfortable in the hand. Much more so than the iPhone.
- The iPhone 3Gs is noticeably faster than previous versions. Much faster. Very responsive and crisp when launching windows and switching apps.
- The video camera is very nice and I find myself using it often. The resulting QuickTime files look sharp on the phone or computer. You can also trim\edit the files on the phone before uploading them to YouTube. I think we need an app here to merge files and do more advanced editing.
- The new camera specs and macro settings are also a nice improvement. I often find myself taking pictures close up of things and this addition really helps.
- From an email standpoint there are some nice improvements that have been asked for. They still aren't as far along as Windows Mobile with Exchange support and fidelity but they are getting there.
- You can now create calendar appointments and invite others from the corp directory. You can also forward appointments and meeting requests.
- You can now type emails in the landscape rotation.
- You can now search with Spotlight across your mailbox. It is fast.
- From a security perspective, you can now use enterprise client certificates on the iPhone. You can encrypt the user’s profile. You can enforce all settings on the device with profile policies. The iPhone now supports ActiveSync 1.2 policies.
Two things I request of the iPhone team please!
- Add unread email counters to the home screen. Almost every other Smartphone on the market has this. I hate having to unlock my phone to see if I have any mail waiting!
- Add enterprise strength management capabilities to the iPhone. The cool factor has the iPhone making some in-roads in the enterprise, but this wont last for much longer if Apple doesn't back it up with things like OTA delivery of enforcement policies and a real-time AD-integrated management console or way to tie in to other vendor’s management infrastructures.
Winner: iPhone by a mile!
Well, the annual feeding frenzy known as the WWDC keynote is now over. There was a lot of good information presented on both Snow Leopard and the iPhone. It was pretty demo-heavy as well – better if you see it in person than if you are at home waiting for the next great tidbit of information. One thing I found interesting were the OS X active users statistics shown at the opening of the keynote. Now, perhaps I missed it – feel free to correct me if I did – but they make it come off like they sold a ton of MacBooks from 2007 – 2009. And while I am sure they did, they real jump comes from the inclusion of iPhone sales since the iPhone also runs OS X.
Photo swiped from gdgt.com which had phenomenal live streaming coverage. The only thing they didn't do was tape a monkey to their heads holding a video camera. I expect this next year guys!
The new iPhone had a lot of the specs that had been leaked in the coming days, although I was personally surprised by the voice commands and the full drive encryption. I had not heard of either of those and the latter is one my company has been anxiously awaiting. Overall, it shapes up to be a fine release. I have to wonder though when the cycle will peak. Can they continue to innovate at the rate of justifying a new handset every year? As an IT worker they (and Palm and Blackberry and HTC) are sure making it hard to enforce standards for corporate devices. Makes me consider pushing this back on to the user to own and as long as it can accept and enforce my policy they can buy whatever they want.
The phone will be released on June 19th and the OS X for iPhone v3 will be released on June 17th. There is a GM release available now for developer members but I will be damned if I can get to it. That server, as they say, is getting hammered.
I will be interested to watch the Sprint\PalmPre vs. AT&T\iPhone battle over the coming months. I just called my local Sprint store and they are sold out of the Pre after getting shipments in Saturday and today. The waiting list has two people on it. However, I hardly live in a metropolis.
Oh, and Snow Leopard will be released in September 2009 and they came out with some new MacBook models. All versions now have a built-in non-removable ‘iPod’ battery.
They had to get their slam in on Vista again and took a swipe at Windows 7 saying it is ‘fundamentally the same as Vista.’ Having been running on Windows 7 since the public beta I can tell you that is not the case. Windows 7 is a dream. So much so I left my MacBook Pro and went back to a Dell e4300 just so I could run it.
Ah, I love it! All of the tension of the Palm Pre vs. the Apple iPhone on one page. I wonder if this was intentional or just sheer coincidence? I will be following it live like many others. I will also be getting a Palm pre in the coming days to play with and of course, a review to follow. I will be curious to see if Apple outright calls out the Palm Pre in the keynote. Do they do a straight-up comparison a la OS X vs. Vista?
Windows Live Writer for Windows Mobile has been released in alpha on CodePlex. I am going to fire it up later on today and see how it runs. If it is even has as nice as the desktop version I am going to be psyched.
Microsoft is accepting submissions for the waitlist for the Office 2010 Technical Preview. This is an especially great opportunity if you are already running Exchange 2010 in the lab and want to see how using Outlook 2010 will enhance the experience with things like mail tips, conversation view and universal inbox. The preview is slated to kick off in July. If you attended TechEd 2009 this year, you get priority seeding in to the preview. Sign up in one click at the TechEd event site with your login.
I am sitting in the auditorium waiting for the keynote to start. I am curious to see if there are any surprise announcements or if it is just a re-hash of all the recent public announcements. Rumor has it they may announce VS2010 beta 1. I am sure they will highlight Office 2010 and Exchange 2010 – but to what degree I am not sure.
My hotel was a big disappointment – but I picked it and was tricked by the flashy website so I have no one to blame but myself. I feel like I am staying at a Moroccan hostel. Only one free power outlet to charge all my stuff and no desk so I am working from the bed. :)
I was talking to a Microsoftie in line at the Starbucks in the convention center and she mentioned the attendance is around eight thousand. About what they expected given the economy. No cancellations that they are aware of due to the H1N1\Swine virus.
So far, so good. Got some great Exchange sessions coming up and will post more including notes from the keynote later.
I am going to be blogging the sessions I attend at TechEd 2009 in Los Angeles right here on my humble blog. They will be almost exclusively messaging and mobility related - ‘cause that’s how I roll!
I will also tweet as much as I can (I only have two arms) under @ntpro. You can also follow general TechEd 2009 tweets by searching hash tags #teched and #tela09.
Great blog post from the team the runs the hands on labs (HOL) at TechEd.
Three days away – it is almost time.
The only bad thing I have noticed as a result of running the RC1 (7100) build of Windows 7 is some strangeness in the Aero UI. This is on a Dell e4300. About 3 times over the last 48 hours, my window frames go to hell. I can press where the minimize, maximize and close icons should be and they behave correctly, however the corner is a blurred mess as is the rest of the window frame. I am using the video driver which Win7 installed so I may have to try the Dell version. When I went to install it, it complained that I was installing over a newer version of the driver so I let it be. But this isn't going to fly …
As I contemplate the design that was going to be an organizational upgrade to Exchange 2007 – I am now shifting gears towards skipping to an upgrade of Exchange 2010. Some things that are influencing my decision:
- The ability to use lower tier storage without compromising performance on the mailbox server. Thanks to all of the database optimizations like sequential writes, db schema re-design and table optimization, cache changes, etc. The database is now truly a portable and replicable object.
- Now that the target for replication is the database and not the server, my high availability options are greater and my need for engineers with specialized clustering experience is removed. I can spread my database replicas over all of my data centers as long as I have 250ms round trip latency or less.
- I can move user’s mailboxes and not affect their uptime or my SLA’s. Since mailboxes are now moved asynchronously in the background loads can be adjusted as needed without downtime.
- My database is now self-healing – enough said.
- My users can do more self-administration through the Exchange Control Panel (ECP).
- My transport servers now have resiliency as well through the shadow queue. If a server with the transport role goes down, the other transport servers have a “shadow” of the queue and can re-send the messages.
- The Outlook client (or any other client for that matter) no longer communicated directly with the server holding the mailbox role. All connections are now proxied (in a much more efficient manner) through the Client Access Server role.
- I don’t have to wait for Exchange Server 2010 sp1 before I deploy. Microsoft is already running close to 6M mailboxes on Exchange 2010. That’s beta testing that you cannot sneeze at!
- Now that I have 4-5 copies of every database (and the data contained therein) in all of my different data centers, there is no more need for me to take daily backups to tape (or disk for that matter) of my databases. I can use replication and replication lag\truncation to protect me from physical and logical database corruption.
- My Mac and Linux users now have a rich web client for accessing email now that the premium Outlook Web Access experience is supported on Firefox and Safari.
So I now have about six months in which to test all my scenarios in the lab, confirm everything will work the way I dream it will and then get in some load and performance testing. The lab will be virtual as will the deployment so things will work out nicely in that regards. I am curious to see if I can support the new CAS role requirements on a virtual guest.
There is also the option of doing a hybrid approach with Exchange Hosted Services (EHS). EHS is the ‘cloud’ offering from Microsoft. This is a shared services environment that has hosted mailboxes, mail hygiene edge services, hosted archiving among other things. I have been working on a model where we move all of our commodity mailboxes (customer service, administrative assistants, task workers and service desk) to the cloud and keep the 40% high-risk\value mailboxes (executives, research, sales and legal) on-premises where they are under our control for legal hold, quota management, etc. The beauty of hosted mail hygiene in the cloud is that the traffic never sees your LAN – it is all discarded ahead of time. You also then have a great deal of flexibility in the case of a disaster or virus outbreak. EHS can queue your mail up for X number of hours\days while you sort out recovery issues or decide on a strategy for tackling an outbreak.
So I am trying to sketch out some mailbox server scenarios for my Exchange 2010 design. I think I am leaning towards iSCSI or perhaps direct-attached SAS drives, but since I am doing virtualized Exchange servers, I don’t think I can load all the storage I need in to the ESX chassis. That leaves me with iSCSI. I am looking at three models to ‘standardize’ on for the business:
Config 1:
1Gb mailboxes x 1000 mailboxes max = 1Tb database
Config 2:
1Gb mailboxes x 500 mailboxes max = 500Gb database
3Gb mailboxes x 100 mailboxes max = 300Gb database
5Gb mailboxes x 40 mailboxes max = 200Gb database
Total = 1 Tb databases
Config 3:
1Gb mailboxes x 500 mailboxes max = 500Gb database
5Gb mailboxes x 100 mailboxes max = 500Gb database
Total = 1Tb databases
If you were to then populate each server configuration in to a Database Availability Group (DAG) spanning three different data centers, you would require a total of 3Tb for each server – not counting OS and log file space requirements. Remember that the rule of thumb is 240ms roundtrip networking latency between any server in a DAG to another server in the same DAG. Also remember, that while servers in a DAG can span Active Directory sites, they cannot span Active Directory domains.
Last week I was fortunate enough to attend the e14 Ignite training in Dallas on the latest version of Exchange server (Exchange 2010) about to get released to beta. As I rushed from the airport to the training, I was stopped to sign the NDA which prevented me from blogging about all the great things I was sure to learn. As expected the training was phenomenal and with the official release of the beta I can now blog about the public details of the enhancements.
Here are some of the ones that I am particularly excited about:
- No more storage groups! There are now only databases and databases are not tied to a specific mailbox server now with the new database mobility features. Once you can move databases amongst any mailbox server in a Database Availability Groups (DAG) you immediately improve your HA profile and resiliency.
- Clustering-specific expertise no longer required. The DAG now abstracts the clustering specifics from the engineers setting up the system. Beyond making sure the OS required pre-requisites are on the server and the Exchange mailbox role installation, the other parts of installation and configuration are not handled by the engineer. The system automatically keeps tabs on the health of the ‘cluster’ and its related subsystems.
- No more use of SCC, CCR, LCR or SCR replication technologies. There are not specific options to utilize these replication technologies individually anymore.
- No more single instance storage. Now that there are no more storage groups and only individual databases, there is no more single instance storage.
- Databases and log streams are now 1:1. For each database there is an associated log stream.
- No more backup to tape. There is no longer a need to backup to tape. With multiple replicas (up to 16 per DAG) that can span datacenters, backing up to tape for site recovery is no longer needed. Also, with the larger supported mailbox sizes, streaming backups to tape will take days to complete even on the fastest current tape technology.
- OWA. OWA now supports the ‘premium’ experience on Safari and Firefox as well as IE. No longer are users who prefer other browsers stuck with the ‘basic’ or ‘lite’ experience.
- Database page patching. The database is automatically monitored for corruption or corrupted pages in the database. When this is encountered, the service will automatically retrieve the same page from one of the database replicas and replace the bad page.
- You can now have up to 100 databases per server and supported mailbox sizes approaching 10Gb.
- No user interruption on mailbox moves. The mailbox is copied asynchronously in the background while use continues. Once the copy is completed, the last few emails are copied over and the users mailbox location is updated in AD and then redirected by the CAS server.
- Client communication. The bulk of all client communication is between the client(s) and the CAS, not the mailbox server. Clients do not talk with store.exe on the mailbox server. The CAS now handles all that communication on the client’s behalf and optimizes this communication in a pooled fashion. Going forward the CAS server will need to have increased resources as a minimum over the mailbox server role in E2K7.
Exchange 2010 beta resources:
Exchange 2010 beta TechNet Website
Beta Download
Exchange 2010 Forums
TechNet Exchange 2010 Library
Microsoft may finally have a winning ad format in its PR battle with Apple. Their latest ads, to air during the NCAA Basketball Tournament, focus on the price of a PC running Windows vs. the price of an Apple computer, the only thing you can legally run the Mac OS on.
In these tough economic times, I think this is a solid strategy for Microsoft if you really don't have any druthers as to which OS you use, or are torn and are looking for a tipping point to help you make up your mind. However, I know a lot of geeks that love the Mac at heart, but simply cannot afford one. Even though they understand the concept behind this message, if they hit the lottery they would have fifteen Macs in their house in a heartbeat. So I don't know if the message will change anyone’s mind more than it might just point out the obvious to those that haven't considered it yet.
I myself, grew up on a Mac in desktop publishing. I then moved over to Windows as I became a systems engineer. At home, I always wanted a Mac, but couldn’t justify the extra spend and now have a Dell in every room (office + four kids) for the price of a Mac and a half.
Then look no further than Evernote. I had heard about this app for awhile and even had it languishing on my iPhone never to be used. Then I started to look in to it as I tried to find something that would let me merge notes from my Mac and my Windows virtual machines. Not only is it cross-platform, but you can synchronize all of your notes over the internet between desktops, laptops and mobile devices.
It is much more than a note taking app, with the ability to make web clippings and translate the text in the clips. It can also house voice recordings if your device supports making them. But the thing that jazzed me the most was that it has the ability to import notes from OneNote 2007. I love OneNote 2007, don’t get me wrong, but there wont be a version out for my Mac or iPhone anytime soon (also, where is Outlook, Visio and LiveWriter for the Mac??).
I was initially disappointed with the lack of text formatting options and the seeming inability to do numbered or bulleted lists. Once I found this (CTRL+SHIFT+O or CTRL+SHIFT+B) by right-clicking in the middle of the note I was much better off. There are still some improvements to the fit and finish to be made, but overall well done. And of course, the price cannot be beat.
You can also purchase a premium account for $5 a month that let’s you exceed the 40mb limit on syncing data. So if you add a lot of multimedia or photos to your notes, this may be worth considering.
I finally have found justification for my iPhone. Utility in the form of a Chipotle Mobile Ordering app. Ahhh, now I can order my 1500 calorie Mexican treats via my iPhone. Who loves you baby?
Tip o’ the Hat to Mac Rumors iPhone Blog!
There have been some reports of Windows 7 being incompatible with AV programs. This is not unusual for beta operating systems that often have bit level changes that don't please AV programs – they are tightly coupled. You may just have to run without AV for a bit while beta testing. Another reason why it is B-e-t-a. Some people just cannot wrap their heads around that.
My employer currently uses McAfee v8.5 which would not install on Windows 7. However, moving up to version 8.7 fixed the issue and it installed without issue.
Update 1: Here is PCWorld article on some user’s experiences.
Update 2: Kaspersky seems to have a compatible version. The download link for Kaspersky windows 7 preview is here: http://www.kaspersky.com/windows7