Microsoft License Compliance....

If you are like many small business customers you probably have wondered - am I in license compliance with Microsoft?  Do I legally own all the software I am using?  If you are NOT wondering these things - you should.  One of my clients got an audit notice the other day from Microsoft requesting that they update them on Microsoft licensing status.  Fortunately this client was good to go - they'd been aggressively being sure that all their machines were compliant, and all we had to do was document some OEM licenses and send a report on to Microsoft for the rest.  But not everyone is in that boat.  One company came to me after they'd received that audit notice in the mail - they had 6 licenses for Microsoft office - and 26 installs.  Not good. Turned out 5 of them were OEM, so that was ok - but the other 16 licenses were illegal.  Bringing them into compliance represented a one time purchase of 16 licenses for Office Professional.  Not an inexpensive day for them at nearly $8000.  The problem with post-install compliance is that you have to retroactively buy the licenses for the most current version of the software (Because you typically can't buy say office 2010 once office 2013 has been released) and you must buy the downgradeable Software Assurance licenses - the most expensive way of upgrading Microsoft has.  There are lots of options but it's almost always better to assess and upgrade or become compliant BEFORE Microsoft Audits you.

So how do you assess your risk?  Fortunately Microsoft has a standalone tool (That's right it does NOT phone home and tattle on you about your licenses) that will assess your Windows Active Directory network and tell you exactly what licenses you have, and which machines or operating systems can be upgraded. It also helps you plan out several scenarios for virtualizing or moving to a private or public cloud install for your existing infrastructure.  The product is called MAPS - Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit and you can download it here.

We use MAPS when planning out office365 migrations to assess the number of office licenses a client might need, versions we're migrating from, etc. 

MAPS is self installing and self contained - you can run it on any server or workstation in your network.  If you need help planning a migration, assistance with becoming compliant, or help in assessing your systems for upgrades or licensing, please give us a call.

It's that time of year again - FIRST Robotics in St. Louis - Penfield Robotics

FIRST Robotics Team 1511 is again competing in St. Louis.  This year the local news caught one of our drive team members as they were entering the field:



(Look for the Red Camo).

You can watch the team compete on the the NASA TV channel on the Newton field.

OS-Cubed, Inc. Announces Microsoft Silver Partner and Microsoft Cloud Accelerate Status

Rochester, NY, USA— February 24, 2014 — OS-Cubed, Inc., today announced it has qualified as a member of the Microsoft Cloud Accelerate program by demonstrating its ability to meet Microsoft’s customers evolving needs in today’s dynamic cloud marketplace. To qualify for the Cloud Accelerate program, partners must successfully demonstrate their cloud services expertise through rigorous sales and technical assessments; and ensure the highest quality of services, Microsoft requires customer references to demonstrate successful customer implementations and satisfaction.  OS-Cubed, Inc. is also a Microsoft Silver Competency qualified partner.

OS-Cubed, Inc. formed in 2006, is a development and managed support services company specializing in Microsoft technology based software and infrastructure.  The company provides services to a wide variety of clients across the region and the country.  With dozens of company’s email and cloud services under management – Microsoft has recognized OS-Cubed’s expertise as one of a select few who provide services at the highest level.  Approximately 1000 resellers in the entire world qualify as Cloud Accelerate partners.

 “Joining the Cloud Accelerate Program showcases our expertise in today’s cloud technology market and demonstrates our knowledge of Microsoft’s Cloud solutions,” said Lee Drake, CEO.  “Our clients expect the best support, and the smoothest migration when they move their email infrastructure to the cloud, and OS-Cubed, Inc. has provided that from the very inception of the program – even participating in the beta release of Microsoft Cloud Technologies”.

“Converting to Office365 and cloud technology from our old e-mail platform was one of the smartest decisions we’ve made as a medical practice.” said Laurie Amico, office manager for AAIR, PC. - an OS-Cubed customer.  “We rely heavily on e-mail communication for our growing practice of 5 offices, 10 providers and 70 staff members.  We have close to 100 e-mail accounts and I needed a more efficient, cost effective way to be able to manage that and add new accounts quickly.   The transition went smoothly and the platform is everything OS-Cubed said and more!”
Microsoft Silver Competency partner OS-Cubed, Inc, located at 274 N. Goodman St, Suite A401 in Rochester, NY provides development and technical support services for clients across the US.  In addition, they are experts at development for DotNetNuke, an open source, Microsoft technology based web content management platform.  Among the hundreds of sites under development by OS-Cubed are www.thompsonhealth.com, www.lasermax.com, www.spectracomcorp.com and www.frameofchoice.com. OS-Cubed recently completed major migrations of email  and files for companies such as Allergy, Asthma, Immunology of Rochester (AAIR), and ATD Precision.

Why estimates aren't free - A Prezi presentation

Access Apps in Office365 - this is huge!

For years migrating applications from desktop databases like Microsoft Access to the web has been an expensive and time consuming process.  Typically these apps need to be ported to SQL Server, custom forms and reports developed, and tons of translating between "stuff you can do on a desktop database" and "stuff you can do on the web".

Microsoft has now released, free to all Microsoft Office365 users, the ability to port an Access application, complete with forms, database tables, reports, etc. directly to the web.  This lets them begin using a shared web-based database almost instantly, without coding.  It lowers the threshhold for office-accessible secure web based databases.

This series of videos shows how simple it is to create tables, add reports, and port the entire thing to the web in a matter of minutes.  You can create Access apps directly on the web, or in Access offline and move them to the web.

There are limitations to the online version of Access, especially when it comes to imports.  This chart from the Microsoft Learning center shows what you can do with online and offline access:

External data operations available in apps and desktop databases

This table gives you a quick reference of which kinds of files you can import or link to Access apps or desktop databases.

	ACCESS APPS CAN IMPORT…	ACCESS APPS CAN LINK TO…	DESKTOP DATABASES CAN IMPORT…	DESKTOP DATABASES CAN LINK TO…
Microsoft Excel				(read-only)
Microsoft Access
ODBC Databases
Text or comma-separated value (CSV) files				(add new records only)
SharePoint List		(read-only)
XML
Data Services				(read-only)
HTML Document
Outlook folder

These databases aren't suitable for everyone - you need to figure out the best solution for your needs.  But this is a new, surprising development, offered free to Office365 pro users, that will push your database requirements online faster.

OS-Cubed is a Microsoft Cloud Accelerate partner, and are experts at Office 365 database development and design.  Contact us to chat about your requirements.

One easy test to see if the website development company you are hiring is a professional

Would you believe there is one easy test to tell if a website development company you are working with is a professional or not?  And it takes just a couple minutes of your time.  I'm assuming if you're reading this that you might be shopping for a website developer - someone to take your site to the next level.  I'm also assuming you want to hire someone professional - someone who has your company's best interests at heart and wants to create for you the very best website to accomplish your goals.

A website development company should be all about YOU - the customer.  Not about them, or their aggrandizement - and thus we come to the one thing you can easily check about a website development company to determine if they are the kind of company you want to work with:

Do they insist on, or automatically, put their own link on your website?

You've probably seen it before.  Embedded somewhere at the bottom of someone's site in tiny print "Website designed by XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX", with a link back to the website company.  I guarantee you that a website development or design company that insists on their own branding on a site that they developed for YOU for YOUR branding does not have your best interests at heart.  They are thinking of themselves - not you - when they add that tagline.  They should be confident enough in the results of their development effort that they KNOW you will talk about your positive experience with them and tell others.  They should be confident enough in their own website, and marketing efforts that they don't have to resort to virally spreading their reputation by embedding it in their customer's sites - frequently without their permission or knowledge.

The only exception I can think of to this rule would be if the website development company is specifically offering a trade, which frequently happens on not-for-profit sites.  We will do a development effort for you at a significant discount, if we can advertise our effort on the site.  But other than that - there is really no good reason to have someone else's name and branding on your site.

So go look at your own site - does it have your web developer's link on it?  Might be time to shop for a new developer.  Looking for a developer? Check other sites they've done and/or do a google search for their site name - if other companies have their signature at the bottom, move on.  Look more until you find a company confident enough to develop sites without putting their own stamp on them.