mcware – we try before you buy and it’s great.

Why does the MCware IT solution work?

 

Although we set up in 1998 it wasn’t until 2001 when we actually got our own systems in order at http://www.mcware.co.uk.  We stated out with a copy of Act CRM, a CompuServe e-mail account and a Microsoft FrontPage website.  Very basic but it got the job done and kept us up to date with all of our contacts, quotes and invoices which were then done in Microsoft Word.

 

It’s all a bit different now.  We have a fully online ERP system that creates, quotes, sales orders, invoices and helpdesk tickets allowing us to know exactly what is going on in our business at any given time.  Network Infrastructure is via VMWARE ESX Servers and Hitachi or EMC SAN Drives.  We have a full disaster recovery plan and have had no downtime since 2004.

 

All internal staff and field engineers have Iphone 3G’s that connect to a Microsoft 2007 Exchange Server.  We use Citrix Xenapp to connect to third party applications.  From our Iphones we can actually logon to a server on one of the many ships we look after and complete routine tasks and repairs.

 

Once we have run a particular solution for 6 months we are then ready to start rolling it out to our clients and you will find that most of our clients have a very similar set up to mcwware including: -

 

http://www.hdforensics.co.uk a leading computer forensics company who also specialise in mobile phone forensics.

http://www.stayinthegoodbooks.com a major online greeting card retailer.

For more information go to http://www.mcware.co.uk

EU and IT

Another EU Farce

 

Only a week after the Digital Britain Report (cost unknown) the EU has told all the member states that they  must not go it alone.  It has to be a coordinated EU Policy.

 

Viviane Reding, the European Commissioner for Telecommunications has warned member states including the UK not to ‘go it alone’ with broadband upgrades.

 

So will the UK get 2Mbps by 2012 or will be told to slow down and work at the pace of France who aims to have all houses connected at a speed of 512 kbps by 2012

 

 

MC Ware Limited is based in Stokesley North Yorkshire and were established in 1998. They are specialists in Microsoft Solutions, VM Ware, Citrix, Cisco, Mitel and Computer and Mobile Phone Forensics. For more info on computer forensics and mobile phone forensics go to http://www.hdforensics.co.uk.  Also see an example of MC Ware web development at http://www.stayinthegoodbooks.com.

 

 

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http://www.mcware.co.uk

Microsoft to pull Windows 7 Release Candidate in August

Thanks to  Barry Collins for this article.

 

Microsoft has announced that the Release Candidate program for Windows 7 will cease in mid-August.

The company has made the Windows 7 RC freely available from its website since the beginning of May.

That free run will come to a close on 15 August, after which point you won’t be able to download the software, although it will still be possible to get an activation key for the operating system.

Once installed on a PC, the Release Candidate won’t expire until 1 June 2010, although users will be hit with annoying 

bi-hourly restarts from 1 March in a none-too-subtle attempt to persuade people to pay for the full version, which will be released on 22 October this year.

Stragglers who are still running the Windows 7 beta software are being urged to decamp to the Release Candidate as soon as possible, as they will start being hit with the bi-hourly restarts on 1 July. The beta software will eventually stop working on 1 August.

Microsoft is due to confirm the UK pricing of Windows 7 later this week, as well as details of free upgrades for people who buy a Vista machine in the run up to the launch.

Leading PC manufacturers are beginning to share with PC Pro details of new product launches to coincide with the launch of Windows 7, with some taking full advantage of the operating system’s new touchscreen support.

MC Ware Limited is based in Stokesley North Yorkshire and were established in 1998. They are specialists in Microsoft Solutions, VM Ware, Citrix, Cisco, Mitel and Computer and Mobile Phone Forensics. For more info on computer forensics and mobile phone forensics go to http://www.hdforensics.co.uk.  Also see an example of MC Ware web development at http://www.stayinthegoodbooks.com.

 

 

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http://www.mcware.co.uk

Nokia and Intel get into Bed

 

Nokia Intel Partnership

 So on Tuesday 23 June Intel and Nokia announced a partnership in which Nokia will use Intel Chips in its mobile devices.

It is well known that Intel are desperate to get into the mobile phone market (not another one) for the mobile phone market is expected to grow more quickly that the  PC market over the next ten years.  Nokia while still technically the leaders in the worldwide smartphone market really need to generate some smartphone buzz to help fight off the growing challenges from Apple, Blackberry Palm and the Google Android.  (it should be noted that Google have just purchase a million numbers for the latter)

MC Ware Limited is based in Stokesley North Yorkshire and were established in 1998. They are specialists in Microsoft Solutions, VM Ware, Citrix, Cisco, Mitel and Computer and Mobile Phone Forensics. For more info on computer forensics and mobile phone forensics go to http://www.hdforensics.co.uk.  Also see an example of MC Ware web development at http://www.stayinthegoodbooks.com.

 

 

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http://www.mcware.co.uk

Iphone broadband dongle

iPhones enabled as broadband dongle for free by “simple Hack

The Guardian UK

People wishing to avoid O2’s extra charge for using their iPhone to connect a computer to the net can use free software but o2 warns it will cut them off. The Guardian has established that owners of iPhone 3GS handsets and the iPhone 3G can circumvent extra monthly charges for using handsets as a broadband “dongle” using a simple technical workaround..

Visitors to Benm.at an iPhone and iPod touch enthusiasts’‘website can download a profile that instantly activates the tethering system free of charge. In the UK iPhone is only available on o2 and they were unequivocal in there response that any use of tethering without the purchase of a bolt-on is specifically prohibited under the terms of serve. However, when pressed as to whether or not the company would actually charge of disconnect offending users, the spokesman said that decisions would be made on a case by case basis. The spokesman would not specify to the Guardian precisely how O2 would detect and distinguish tethered and non tethered data use.

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http://mcware.co.uk

MC Ware Limited is based in Stokesley North Yorkshire and were established in 1998. They are specialists in Microsoft Solutions, VM Ware, Citrix, Cisco, Mitel and Computer and Mobile Phone Forensics.

European Digital Surveillance

The European Digital Surveillance Proposal is to come under Scrutiny

The EU is considering a proposal to set out the use of techniques and technologies for the digital surveillance of its 500 million citizens.

Leading civil rights and justice expert Tony Bunyan will look at the proposal of the EU Future Group report Freedom, Security and Privacy – the area of European Home Affairs.

According to Tony Bunyan – “The national and European states require unfettered powers to access and gather masses of personal data on everyday life of everyone, so that we can all be safe and secure from perceived “threats”. But how are we to safe from the state itself, from its uses and abuses of the data it holds on us – If we do not have an open and meaningful debate now, we never will because it will by then be too late.”

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http://mcware.co.uk

MC Ware Limited is based in Stokesley North Yorkshire and were established in 1998. They are specialists in Microsoft Solutions, VM Ware, Citrix, Cisco, Mitel and Computer and Mobile Phone Forensics.

Wifi through a hole in the wall

Access WiFi through A Hole in the Wall
Source – www.pcpro.co.uk
Thanks to the communications giant BT the UK could soon start seeing annoying fee charging cash machines being turned into conveniently located WiFi hotspots for Internet access.
We all know how annoying fee charging cash machines can be, and most of us are loathe to use them because it appears that they are charging us a fee just to get at our own money, which can be particularly frustrating in the current financial climate when consumers can ill afford to waste money just to get their own cash out of a machine. However, these machines could soon be seen in a different light by tech savvy consumers and business people that want to get online whilst out and about.

This is because the communications giant BT has struck a deal with the firm Cashbox, which runs around two and a half thousand of these fee charging machines across the UK. The machines are often located in areas where there is little access to regular cash machines, which is why many people end up having to use them despite their reservations about having to do thus because of the cost. This is also how Cashbox makes its money.
The new deal will see BT turning some of these fee charging cash machines into WiFi hotspots on its Openzone network. In the initial stages around ten of these cash machines will be converted into WiFi hotspots, but officials have said that as time goes on this number should increase. Customers that have BT broadband packages get an Openzone allowance with their packages, and access can also be purchased, although iPhone users get unlimited access to the hotspots.
Ciaran Morton, the CEO of Cashbox, stated: “Some of our sites lend themselves to becoming hotspots more than others. It’s really just the start of our rollout. We will look at extending coverage over the coming months.”
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http://mcware.co.uk

MC Ware are based in Stokesley North Yorkshire and were established in 1998. They are specialists in Microsoft Solutions, VM Ware, Citrix, Cisco, Mitel and Computer Forensics.

Can Microsoft ever improve on XP

Extract from Digital Daily by John Paczkowski
“Windows XP is almost nine years old. And it will be almost 11 before it’s finally retired for good, now that Microsoft has once again extended XP downgrade rights.
Said Microsoft: “Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate customers will have the option to downgrade to Windows XP Professional from PCs that ship within 18 months following the general availability of Windows 7 or until the release of a Windows 7 service pack, whichever is sooner, and if a service pack is developed.”
This means OEMs could still be selling XP-equipped PCs as late as April 2011. Which is astonishing when you recall that the company originally planned to cut off sales of XP on Jan. 30, 2008, one year after Windows Vista debuted. But the poor reception given Vista and the unwavering loyalty of XP users caused the company to extend that deadline to June 30, 2008. A few months later, Microsoft (MSFT) pushed the deadline out further, to Jan. 31, 2009. Then, amid reports that more than a third of all new Vista PCs were being downgraded to XP, Redmond extended the XP deadline to May 30, 2009. The company subsequently pushed that extension out to April 22, 2010.
And now we’re into mid-2011. “

MC Ware are based in North Yorkshire and provide IT services across the globe. Marine IT, VM Ware, Mitel Partners, Citrix Xen app and Sonicwall specialists

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Carter asks for 2Mbps – not enough

 

So the long awaited report has been published and the UK Government has promised all households with broadband to bring them up to 2megabits per second – hurrah; this will still make us 15th in the table of OECD Countries and at the rate Kenya is laying cables the will probably be ahead of us with a higher Mbps.

Will we have to settle for this reduced service until another Government Committee looks into this in another few years?

We have the most extensive network of underground cabling and piping in urban areas yet 2 Mbps is all we can aspire to. Alright rural areas are a different kettle of fish, very little is underground be it electricity or telephone but I think we have got passed the days of a One plus One with Dax ( this enabled an A4 fax to be sent in 3 minutes)

For rural areas Avanti’s Hyland satellite would be able to provide 2mbps broadband to 350,000 rural homes. Question – why can’t this provide a greater Mbps and cover a greater area?

Website: http://www.mcware.co.uk

MC Ware Limited
Serving the North East since 1998

Government and Education Tenders – No Thanks

MC Ware have been trading for 11 years now and hardly a month goes by where we are not asked to quote for an IT Support contract for a school or another local government concern.  Luckily I learnt my lesson some years ago that this is a complete and utter waste of time.  Sour Grapes?  Not in this case because we often know people who work within the organisation and we are able to check back in with them and see how things are going or not going as the case may be.  If a company quotes a figure for 12 months that has been quoted in order to get the business it stands to reason that they will then try and complete the task spending as little as possible in order to make their margin.  It’s difficult to imagine that companies who work like this will be sending their IT staff of £3000 – £5000 training courses to develop their skill sets and cut their bottom line.  The help desks, should you be lucky enough to get through to them are manned with low earning, low motivated ill equipped staff.  Of course this is a general comment and I don’t mean to offend anyone.

I have pondered going down the route of quoting an impossibly low number only to win the contract and then drop the bombshell that the figure didn’t actually include IT Support for items that had a plug on them!  The lowest quote gets the business and the quote is not worth the paper it is written on.  MC Ware guarantee to keep to budget and would take a hit if our quote was wrong but this doesn’t seem to tick the boxes. 

Does this sound familiar to anyone, do you find government tendering a waste of time and therefore you are reluctant to commit any staff to the process.  I would love to hear other people experiences

http://www.mcware.co.uk