Essential Exchange

In case anyone besides me is counting, I've been at this (consulting, writing, speaking, etc.) for 10 months now. I'm having a blast. I wish I'd done this years ago. Two months ago I took on a partner and we formed Smith Consulting d/b/a The Essential Exchange as a legal entity (as opposed...

I was recently (ok, this morning) trying to find out about a vbscript (actually WMI) error that I was getting, with little success. However, in doing so, I found this forum posting: http://www.tutorials-win.com/WindowsServer/Services-Windows/ This irritates me a great deal. Matheiu Chateau, whoever he...

Sorry for the dead-silence this past week...between meetings and parties and certification tests and working and talking....it was a busy time at Tech-Ed. (One of my editors is peeved at me - I missed a chapter deadline too!) :-( So, I'm just going to ramble on here for a bit... Lots of folks say...

Clustering is a Windows Server technology that allows for a "stand-by" server (call it "Server 2") to take over the load and activity of another server (call it "Server 1"), if that server should fail (i.e., if Server 1 should crash). Clustering basically is designed to...

So, yesterday I wrote an opinion-piece about Vista , and it appears that Bob Cringely did too . Completely unrelated, and I didn't read his piece before I wrote mine. Of course, his readership is more than mine. :-) His piece has generated lots of commentary - but I just flat out think he's wrong...

What _IS_ the deal? I practically got into an argument with another MVP recently over Vista...he said no one is buying it. I chose to disagree. He said no one is running it. I chose to disagree. By this point, he was pretty wound up...so I just suggested we agree to disagree.... According to Bill Gates...

I hate to sound like a marketing goon, but I have to tell you about Xobni. But I've been using Xobni for four days. I don't know how I ever got by without it. Comparatively speaking, I can now process my e-mail at lightspeed. I don't know how YOU work with e-mail, but I spend a great deal...

So, "The Essential Exchange" is my front-end to my consulting business. I admit that marketing is not my strong suit. So far, I'm supporting myself on writing and people using my services from the communities I help support. But this week I'm meeting with an honest-to-gosh client who...

Sorry for the quiet time, it's been a busy week here at the homebase of TheEssentialExchange... When I think of everything that's been going on the last couple of weeks, I'm actually surprised I'm still standing: Finishing the development of some major tools for a huge WSS 2.0 to MOSS...

I don't often just refer you to another blog, but this article on "How to Think" by Ed Boyden is one that I keep returning to. I think it has gret value. Check it out.