iPhones and Exchange

It only took a few days to find what I needed to know about Exchange and the iPhone. I guess in all fairness, I was not looking super hard, but still it seems like it was hard to find information about this.

Anyway, it seems that ActiveSync will not be available until June for the iPhone. That is not a big deal to me, I have a Blackberry. But, for our graphics guy here who just got his cool new iPhone, it is a bit disappointing to have to wait so long just to check his work email account.

According to a blog by Peter Cohen over at Macworld ActiveSync, which is software that is used by Exchange to push email to mobile devices, will be released in June during a major software update. We are already using ActiveSync here to push e-mail content to our Treo users, so I know this will work, but JUNE? Wow. I wish I would have known this when my user first came to me asking about whether or not he should get an iPhone. Again, sure they are cool and all, but come on, if I am paying that much for a "smartphone" it darn well better be smart enough to deliver my mail.

Ah well, June it is.

Mac Inventory Software - iInventory v7.4

We need to be able to tell what software programs, and specifically which versions of programs, are installed on all of our Mac desktops and laptops, but the boss didn't want to purchase anything. So, here I am searching form something that will do the trick quickly and for free.

I found a program that I like, iInventory v7.4, but I will need to do some testing before the jury is in with their final decision. I am installing the client on two Macs right now. My two test systems are a brand new MacPro and a PowerMac, and so far so good.

I was able to create an agent to install on both systems, and was able to run and then import all of the information. The agent builder is easy to use, and the software itself is pretty intuitive. The software has a network scanning feature and says it is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux which does indeed seem to be the case. The program comes with some canned reports, but they are very basic and I will need to create custom reports after I clean the data up a bit.

Overall, great tool for free, and I have the option to upgrade to a paid version if I need/want to.

I Want One

I am a pretty hard core PC user. I have dabbled with Macs in my different jobs, but really only put hands on them when I have to fix a problem. However, with the introduction of their new Mac Pro, I just may have to change all that.

A collegue pointed out this blog post over at ZDNet, so I had to check it out. It is true, Apple has released the "Fastest Mac Ever."
This new Mac Pro has 8 processor cores. Yes, that is correct, I said 8 processors. And as if that is not enough, it can also house up to 4TB of INTERNAL storage, and oh yeah, 32GB of RAM. Evan if I combined all the desktop computers in my house (and actually that is a few computers and parts) I don't have that kind of power.

Now, the price is still a bit high for me to justify buying as my personal laptop, but given the fact that this beauty is a portable server, the price doesn't suck.

Yep, I am in love.