Bad Apples in the Computer Industry
I was a little perturbed today having witnessed some really poor salesmanship at a local Orlando computer shop I stopped into to try and find a special type of USB cable (another story). While I was in the shop, the owner (I assume) began helping a walk-in client who came in with a laptop asking about Windows 7 and if he could upgrade it. The salesman/owner turned over the laptop and saw an OEM Vista Home Premium sticker, and said ‘yes you can upgrade it, but we don’t recommend it’ and went on to give the guy some techno-babble about the hard drive not working correctly when you ‘try’ to do an upgrade’ THEN he went on to say he could sell him a

XP to Windows 7 Upgrade Works
The picture in my blog banner is the family farm in Saskatchewan where I spent many summers running around keeping everyone else occupied. It’s where I learned to drive when I was 9 or so (just about took out a building – thanks Grandpa), and learned many a life lesson from my uncles, aunts, cousins and Grandma (“that fence could use some painting”). Just to the right of where the blog picture ends is where my Uncle Lynn lives – he built his own house there, and I actually helped shingle his garage that summer some 30-odd years ago (coincidentally, he just had the shingles re-done). Anyway, Uncle Lynn’s a bit of a computer geek – meaning to say he l

Windows 7 & Office 2007 for Students – The Ultimate Steal
Are you a college/university student in Canada? Check this deal out – $40 for Windows 7 Pro (upgrade) and $64 for Office 2007 Ultimate! (click the ‘additional products’ link to see the Win7 price). So eat KD for an extra week – this offer is too good to pass up (even if OpenOffice is ‘free’). http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-ca/default.aspx Posted in Office2007, Win7

Windows 7 Family Pack in Canada
Wow – tough time finding this thing to recommend to family…until I had the SKU to Google with. www.microsoft.ca has a ‘buy now’ link, that throws you over to their U.S. online store, except they don’t ship to Canada. So why is there a ‘buy now’ link? Googling/Binging brought no more joy. Called Microsoft Canada – disconnected after hearing one of their Indian call centre folks answer and hang up without realizing I was on the other end. Called Microsoft Canada Parts – who told me there is no Canadian online store, and couldn’t tell me anything more. Called the main MS Canada line back

Convert ResponsePoint / Aastra Phones to Standard SIP
Aastra has released ‘conversion firmware’ to turn ResponsePoint phones into standard SIP so you can attach them to other IP-PBX’s. Like Zultys, for example. Another nail in the RP coffin. http://www.aastratelecom.com/cps/rde/xchg/03/hs.xsl/28250.htm Posted in VoIP