squeezeIT

I have been working with Windows 7 as my main laptop operating system since approximately the release of the beta – I have run it on an older machine and now I run the release candidate on a brand new machine. The specs of my laptop are Toshiba Satellite, 2 Ghz Core 2 Duo T6400, 64 Bit, 4GB Ram and all the trimmings. One item it does not support is Intel VT. And this is key.

I actually had a need to use the XP Mode add on to Windows 7 which is available for download for use with the release candidate. Great, a real world need for compatibility and a good test scenario, or so I thought. My problem to be solved was that of running the Juniper Netscreen VPN client which doesn’t support 64 bit operating systems or Windows 7  (first point very frustrating, second point fair enough).

I read the provided documentation and quickly discovered that XP Mode (which is a pre-configured virtual machine containing Windows XP) does not support processors that do not have Intel VT. This I found strange as Virtual PC 2007 SP1 the standalone product does work without Intel VT. For people who don’t believe documentation, I can confirm after installing it all and ignoring what the software developer said,  that it is indeed correct. It really doesn’t work without Intel VT.

My conclusion then is that though XP Mode sounded pretty useful, especially for this kind of issue, it is actually going to be mostly useless to most people. I have 10 PCs available to me and only one has Intel VT support (and that’s because I ensured it did).  My brand new shiny laptop which is mid range is therefore no use to me in supporting legacy apps. So I am back to manually installing Virtual PC 2007 SP1 as I always have to support any legacy requirements. That’s fine for me but much more of a headache for the average IT department that wants to roll our Windows 7 64 Bit but has to support not 64 bit compatible applications.

I realize that more expensive laptops and desktops will support Intel VT and if you want XP Mode you will need to buy one of those, but it seems a little shortsighted not make it work on any hardware platform as initially it sounded like a great idea.

It is exciting to see the Apple iPhone top the JD Power 2009 Wireless Consumer Smartphone Satisfaction Study
and beat out two formidable competitors in HTC and Research In Motion. Interestingly, RIM with its ever popular Blackberry device came second to last overall with middling ratings for such items as Design, Features and Ease of Operation.

From a business point of view it has never made much sense to me why companies would want to have to buy and support Blackberry Enterprise server software to connect their corporate Blackberry’s to the company Exchange server when you could use a very nice HTC phone coupled with Microsoft Windows Mobile and have it working out of the box in an instant.

I know that Blackberry’s had more features for the Enterprise in the early days like remote wiping of lost phones but Microsoft has added similar functionality in recent times. So I give RIM that advantage, but surprisingly both RIM’s Blackberry OS and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile OS both got 3 out of 5 this year in the Operating System category. I am definitely not in love with Windows Mobile after using it for a lot of years and am shocked to see then that in  the survey RIM and MS managed only the same rating.

Which brings me back to the iPhone. Never have I purchased such a hyped up device (and I have bought a few duffers in my time) and been so pleased with it and actually found it to be better than I hoped. I waited for the 3G iPhone, not so much for the 3G but because they licensed ActiveSync from Microsoft which allows the iPhone to natively talk to Exchange servers straight out of the box.

As a business tool, the Safari browser, the infinite ways to expand the usage with the iTunes App store and the piece de resistance the email integration with Exchange means this is just a fabulous combination that is truly useful for the individual and the business.

I thoroughly recommend you consider the iPhone when you are next evaluating smart phones for your business or are looking to upgrade. I don’t think you will be disappointed.