Microsoft Mesh vs Microsoft LiveSync

I've been a longtime fan of Groove, the peer-to-peer file sharing software invented by Ray Ozzie, also the creator of Lotus Notes and now Microsoft's Chief Software Architect.

Microsoft bought Groove and Ray came along with it--or rather, it bought Ray and Groove came along with him. He's been moving Microsoft in the director of cloud computing. It's about time and the next year should see lots of public results of those efforts.

I was also a fan of the little utility FolderShare which allowed peer-to-peer file sync between computers, including Macs and Windows. Microsoft bought that company too and it became Microsoft LiveSync.

The challenge with LiveSync and with the standard, small workgroup implementation of Groove is that peers have to have their computers on at the same in order to sync.

Microsoft has a new product in Beta called Mesh and it provides sync to the cloud and then back down to devices--Macs, Windows and Windows Mobile. Because of the cloud, peers don't need to be on at the same time. There's a light little app that installs on your desktop and provides a helpful little info window, including messaging updates. And Mesh will allow you to fully access your computer remotely from another computer, provided your computer has been left on and connected. Mesh looks like a winner.

I'm not sure where this leaves Groove. The extra security of Groove file sharing may no longer be enough of a value proposition. It will be interesting to see where this lands with Office 2010. Groove will be renamed "Sharepoint Workspace". News is supposed to be forthcoming soon, according to the Sharepoint Workspace Team Blog as of September 2, 2009.

(Two criticisms. First, Microsoft please, if you're in Beta with a product, the #1 news item on a Google or Bing search should not be an article from mid-2008! What is with your PR folks? Second, please, I can't stand the ads you guys run within products like MS Messenger and even within the Mesh Beta. Can't you drop those for the Beta? And I sure hope there's a for-fee option to get rid of those ads in the final Mesh. Messes badly with your nice and pretty interface.)

Managing the privacy settings on Facebook

Facebook has grown to be a ubiquitous network, crossing the boundaries between work and personal. For me, this has only occurred recently. I've tried to keep Facebook as a friends network, people with whom I have close ties or with whom I could imagine having close ties. There's a lot of crossover between work and personal in my life, but also many cases with a clear distinction.

Recently, I've started to get more and more friend requests from people I don't know very well, people I hardly know at all, or people who are firmly in the domain of work. How to manage this? It turns out the Facebook now has pretty good privacy management tools. Key is to group your contacts by "list". Here's how:

1. Select "Friends" from the drop-down menu at the top of your Facebook screen.

2. Select "Create a New List" and name it something like "Work". This will become the list of names to which content restrictions are applied.

3. You'll see a drop down box to the right of each of your friends' names. Click this and you should see the option to select the new list you made, tagging friends as members of that list for whom you want to apply common restrictions.

4. Go up to your menu at the top of your Facebook screen, and towards the right select "Settings/Privacy Settings".

5. Select "Profile".

6. There are ten options, each with their own drop-down list. For the options that you do not want this new "Work" list to have access, select "Customize" and at the bottom of the dialog box, where it says "Except these People" type in the name of your list.

7. Make sure you click "Save" at the bottom when you've finished all your customization.

Voila! You have now restricted access to those on your work list to particular places in your Facebook. Good options might be "Videos" and "Photos Tagged of You". You might also want to restrict their access to your "Wall Posts".

Please use "thousands" formatting when doing Excel models

Drives me crazy when entrepreneurs create financial models with "/1000" in order to create a format to show a worksheet in thousands.

Don't do that! Makes editing the modeling really risky because it's hard to trace where this formula has been applied.

Just use a custom number format to show the numbers in thousands as necessary. Here's one that works:

_($* #,##0,_);_($* (#,##0,);_($* "-"_);_(@_)

Ok?

elegant little counter-tech device for pencils

A friend (from Microsoft no less) gave me this elegant little counter-tech device.

Salient facts about the Lenovo X series notebooks

I get asked about my Lenovo X61s all the time because it's an attractive little computer with a full-size keyboard.

Here's a quick summary for those of you interested in these machines.

1. If you can handle a laptop without a trackpad but only that red pointing device, you can go with the X200 or X200s for a new machine or an X61 or X61s for a used machine (check out the Lenovo refurb site). (I can't use a trackpad because it instantly gives me carpal tunnel.) Difference is that with the switch to the X200 series, they went from a more vertically oriented 12.1 inch screen to a more horizontally oriented aspect ratio--with Lenovo's regret but unfortunately that's the direction other laptop makers are moving and therefore screen manufacturers. You need to get a removable base unit for these units to house the CD-ROM drive. Without the base, these units are a little over 3 lbs. The "s" versions are almost indistinguishable. They run processors which are slightly slower but have more efficient power consumption. They are very slightly shorter in height, very slightly lighter. Also, they have a more rigid screen enclosure. Only the X200 unit has a built in camera (for Skype etc) if that is important to you.

2. If you can't handle a laptop without a trackpad you can get the X301 (or the predecessor X300) which goes up against the MacBook Air. Unfortunately you can only get this machine with a solid state hard drive which raises the price--and you really only want the 128gB, not the 64gB drive, which raises the price further. It weighs about the same as the X200/X61 but has a CD-ROM built-in and a larger 13.3 inch screen.

Downside of Apple design: dongles galore!

I use a Lenovo but have tremendous respect and love for Apple design. However, the number of dongles they've come out with to connect a notebook to an external monitor or projector is insane!

iPhone created New Yorker cover picture

LINK