[email protected] - 31 Aug 2006

Windows Exchange Pro Magazine?
I just received my latest copy of Windows IT Pro in the mail. I really think you should rename the magazine to Windows Exchange Pro because it seems like every issue lately has articles about Microsoft Exchange and Outlook.

My current employer is a Global Fortune 500 company with 10,000 users in 70 countries, and we use Lotus Notes as our email client with a Domino server on the back end. My job is desktop support. It's a fantastic program! Fast, reliable, full-featured, easy to set up and use. I've used Exchange: In fact, for a previous employer, a technical college, I taught a course in setting up Exchange servers. While the students were learning Exchange, the staff all had Lotus Notes on their own desktop.

So, why is it that I don't think I've ever seen an article about Lotus/Domino in the three years I've been a subscriber to Windows IT Pro? This is an enterprise-level application used by thousands, if not millions, of people worldwide, but it's ignored by a publication that calls itself an "IT pro" magazine. Yes, it's a great program, but like any program, it's not perfect. But those imperfections are what magazines like yours are supposed to help us with.
—Mike Armstrong

Thank you for your perspective, Mike. Our coverage is focused on Microsoft Exchange and Outlook because more than 80 percent of our readers tell us they work exclusively with Exchange and want more information about it. Readers, if you want coverage of Lotus/Domino in Windows IT Pro, let us know!
—Dianne Russell

On the Road Again
If an IT person can't figure out howto find the File menu, I don't think Office 2007 is going to have a largeadoption rate in the general userpopulation. In her IT Pro Perspectivecolumn "On the Road withOffice 2007" (June 2006, InstantDocID 50237), all Karen Forster saidwas "Go figure."Howabout "Wakeup, Microsoft"?Warningthe Helpdesks, as Karenhas done, issmart, but thenagain, whyupgrade? Afterreading Karen'sOffice 2007 highlights,I thinkMicrosoft is obviouslymissing thepoint of upgrades. I also think thatany time you talk about upgradingyou should also mention ROI. Thisis always a point of discussion withmy clients. We don't upgrade to upgrade. I can't believe Karen didn'tquestion why one should upgrade ifthe UI is confusing. The only applicationthat would motivate me toupgrade to Office 2007 is Outlook because I spend the most time withOutlook.

And why SharePoint? SharePoint will be limited to a small adoption rate until Microsoft makes some big changes, such as allowing SharePoint access to file servers. Why have two locations for the data? Being able to access files through the standard Windows Explorer UI and the Web browser would be great. I know it would require serious changes, but this is what I'm waiting for.
—Ben R. Serebin

An Open Letter Draws Letters
I read IT Pro Perspective, "An Open Letter to Bill Gates" (July 2006, InstantDoc ID 50455). Regarding "porting" a drive, you shouldn't be porting an already used drive to another machine. I prefer to back up my data files or dump data files onto a new machine. As Karen Forster states, you can also have a "ghosted" image ready to put on a waiting PC. Who wants to port all the possible viruses, Trojans, malware, and the like to another box? Besides that, I want to keep my registry lean and mean.
—Steve Schroeder

I want to thank Karen Forster for publishing Murat Yildirimoglu's letter and responding appropriately to it. The whole time I was reading his letter, I was thinking, "Vista and Longhorn address every one of his concerns." It was great to read Karen giving the same answer. Yes, Karen, Bill probably doesn't read Windows IT Pro very much, but those of us who actually manage the technology do!
—Rik Wright