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Reuters is reporting that there are talks that Microsoft is interested in making a bid for Autonomy.   Both companies are not commenting about this yet, but apparently the market is excited about it and Autonomy’s stock enjoyed a boost.  

What could this mean for the ECM market?  It would be bigger than Open Text’s acquisition of Hummingbird in 2006, as both companies were solidly in the ECM space already.    But this is different.  Could Microsoft integrate Autonomy’s EDRM sprectrum with SharePoint, with everything indexed by IDOL?   Could all of this functionality be built into an OS?    When I sat in on an early peek at Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 earlier this year, I took note that Microsoft is actually starting to use the phrase “ECM” in their presentations.   Maybe this was foreshadowing.    We’ll have to see how this story ends.

Last month, I posted my findings on the beta releases of XenApp 4.5/5.0 HRP5 for Windows 2003 and the 11.2 Plug-in.  Today, Citrix released the final Citrix XenApp Online Plug-In 11.2 (formally called XenApp client).  See my previous post on more detail on the new features and changes this client; another notable change in this client is the removal of the Program Neighborhood. 

Program Neighborhood (PN.EXE) was primarlily leveraged to create connections directly to XenApp servers (as opposed to connecting through a Web Interface or the PNAgent).  With the removal of the Program Neighborhood, Citrix has made it very clear that they do not want support this functionality.  Fortunately, there IS a way to work around this issue if you decide to upgrade to 11.2 client and are still required to make a connection directly to a XenApp server.  The trick is to create an ICA file. Copy and paste the template below into notepad and substitute the approriate server name denoted below as “servername.domain.com”.  Save the file with a .ICA extension and voilà.  You can now connect directly to a XenApp server with the 11.2 client.

Recently, Kraft Kennedy became one of the first integrators in the industry to complete an implementation of iManage 8.5 GA in production at a law firm.   This particular firm is taking advantage of the predictive Email Filing and Email Management capabilities of FileSite 8.5 GA and the WorkSite Communication Server 8.5 GA, complete with OffSite for offline access and the iManage 8.5 IDOL Indexer handling search requests.

After the initial roll-out of the GA release, there were several issues that appeared, and were confirmed with Autonomy iManage technical support.  The first issue involved security inheritance, and manifested itself when saving documents into folders with specific users or groups added to the permission ACLs.   In these instances, the document would simply inherit the default security of the folder (Public, View, Private), ignoring any additional ACLs.  The second issue regarded Outlook stability, where toggling between a WDS-integrated Outlook search and the Inbox would result in a crash of Outlook.  This crash was fairly common, since users tend to search their mail items daily.   The third issue was more cosmetic, but annoying nonetheless.  When disregarding a draft email, the message remained in the Drafts folder of Outlook.  Again, not earth-shattering, but annoying to have to see Drafts (15) in your mailbox after a few days.

In the past couple weeks, Autonomy has released WorkSite Server 8.5 Update 2, along with the FileSite/DeskSite/OffSite/EMM 8.5 All Languages release  (you will know if you are running the All Languages release of the iManage client software because the build number will be 8.5.200.x).     We are happy to report that this back-end and client update neatly addresses and resolves all three of these issues, in addition to several others.    Outlook is more stable, and there is no longer any issues with security inheritance.   If anyone is hesitant about moving to iManage 8.5, rest assured that the latest release appears to be stable and functions as advertised.

For those with access, more information on these updates can be found in the WorkSite 8.5 Resource Center at the iManage technical support web site.

Research in Motion (RIM) offers two ways of writing applications for BlackBerry devices–Native Java, and the Microsoft Visual Studio plugin.  As a VB.Net developer, I was tempted to go the Visual Studio plugin approach, but I decided against it for the following reasons:

• It’s geared more towards rapid forms-based applications that communicate by web services.
• It requires the user to be on a BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
• It does not provide access to all of the APIs and BlackBerry features that you get with Java; for example, camera, phone, Bluetooth, address book, GPS, BlackBerry Maps, and BlackBerry Message features.
• It doesn’t support the BlackBerry Storm touch screen and accelerometer.
• Debugging and deployment is more difficult, and the Visual Studio plugin only comes with a BlackBerry Bold simulator.  The Java tools come with a BlackBerry Storm simulator.

For these reasons, to be able to debug for the Storm, and to have access to the entire BlackBerry library, I decided to go with the Java approach.  The transition is quite easy, once you get the development environment in place and write your first test application.  The BlackBerry website has a lot of good information for developers, if you’re able to find it.

I found that this page has everything you need to get started developing BlackBerry applications:

http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/resources/tutorials.jsp#tab_tab_development

Rather than copy and paste information from their guides, I’ll just point out some of the things I wish were clearer in each document.

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World Software Corporation just released their latest version of their DMS product, Worldox GX2.  It is available for new installs now, but the upgrade package for existing customers is still a few weeks away.  The upgrade will be free for customers who are current on maintenance.  A couple of the key new features of Worldox GX2 are the improved Outlook integration and the ability to create Ethical Walls. 

We have been running a Beta version in our virtual research lab for a few months now, and tested these new features as well as a few other highlights.

A few screenshots and comments are below the fold.

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In a previous post, I discussed how to expand virtual machine boot volumes with no downtime using Dell’s ExtPart utility.  Using this method is useful if you are using Windows Server 2000/2003, but is no longer required when using Windows 2008.  With Windows 2008 becoming the preferred server operating system going forward, using the method described below will become more and more common.

Microsoft has made it possible to expand boot volumes easily and on the fly without downtime without the need for any additional tools.  In this example, we’ll expand the C: drive of a Windows 2008 virtual machine from 25GB to 30GB.

1. Expand the size of the virtual disk.

2. Launch Disk Management by right clicking on My Computer, selecting Manage, and then selecting Storage\Disk Management.  If you do not see the unallocated space, right click on Disk Management and select “Rescan Disks.”

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I recently downloaded the technical preview of SharePoint WorkSpace 2010, but was disappointed to find out that I couldn’t test any of the SharePoint features.  It’s only compatible with SharePoint 2010, so anyone interested in exploring all of the new features will have to wait a few more weeks/months until the technical preview of SharePoint 2010 is made public.

SharePoint Workspace 2010 is the next version of Groove, the collaboration software acquired by Microsoft in 2005.  Groove 2007 was only superficially integrated into the Office Suite, and never got a large following, as it was included in only the most expensive versions of Office, and most people had no idea what it was.  SharePoint WorkSpace 2010 will be included in Office 2010 Professional Plus, on the other hand, allowing it to expand to a wider audience.  Additionally, it will integrate seamlessly with SharePoint 2010 and other Office products.

SharePoint Workspace 2010 allows for the creation of “SharePoint Workspaces” and “Classic Workspaces.”  SharePoint Workspaces allow you to access all SharePoint site content on your computer, whether online or offline.  This is an improvement over SharePoint 2007, where only document libraries and certain types of lists could be synched with Outlook.  While you had to go into a library’s action menu in SharePoint 2007 to connect it to Outlook, you can now connect the SharePoint 2010 complete site to SharePoint WorkSpace by clicking Site Actions –> Sync to Computer.  Alternatively, you can sync to a site from inside SharePoint WorkSpace by creating a SharePoint Workspace and specifying the url.

Classic Workspaces are the workspaces that were available in Groove.  Users can create document libraries, discussion threads, calendars, and invite other users and chat inside the workspace.  Classic workspaces use peer-to-peer technology to synchronize documents and files between users.  That allows users in different companies, on different networks, to still collaborate quickly and securely.

SharePoint WorkSpace 2010: New WorkSpace Menu

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Exchange 2007’s Client Access Server (CAS) role, while similar to the Front-End server configuration of Exchange 2003, introduced a number of new features and capabilities that distinguished it significantly.  For example, instead of just passively acting as a relay for Internet-based access to a Back-End server via Outlook Web Access (OWA) and ActiveSync like in Exchange 2003, the Exchange 2007 CAS role actively facilitated access for such functions and, in doing so, offloaded some load from the back-end Mailbox server role.  In Exchange 2007, OWA, ActiveSync, and Outlook Anywhere (formerly RPC-over-HTTPS) clients all connected through the CAS role as an endpoint, which then connected to the Mailbox role to provide access to the necessary content.  However, native on-network Outlook  MAPI connectivity still connected directly to the Mailbox role for mailbox access.

Introducing the RPC Client Access Service

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Most PC users have probably had this complaint at some point during their user experience, and certainly anyone who was worked in support of users has heard it countless times: “My computer is too slow!”

Workstation slowness can be frustrating for anyone, and a tighter economy means reduced budgets, which makes it harder for IT departments to keep pace with technology. What then can one do to improve workstation performance when IT admins have to put off workstation upgrade or refresh projects? Well, there are all the usual tricks. Adding RAM may be a cost efficient alternative to replacing workstations or you could turn off all resource intensive visual effects and adjust Windows to run for best performance.

But there is another quick trick that has proven useful to members of the Support Practice Group: recreating the WSUS database on the workstation. The Windows Server Update Service is a useful and commonly used method of managing the distribution of Microsoft updates to user workstations, and its standard practice for SPG clients.

WSUS client workstations contact the server to determine which updates are required and approved, and keeps a log in the following file: c:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Datastore\datastore.edb. Overtime, this database file will grow, and as it grows it can begin to wear on performance. If you find a copy that has grown to 20-30+ MB, try renaming the file and allowing Windows to rebuild a copy from scratch. It’s a very quick and easy fix that can yield immediate benefits in workstation performance.