In the Nov 29, 2007 issue of EMO, Outlook developer Ken Slovak shared a programming bug he discovered in iTunes and other Outlook add-ins which caused Outlook to crash.

Ken dropped me this note earlier this week: "Apple has just released a new version of their ITunes software (version 7.6) that includes a new version of their calendar synch add-in. The new version, that I worked on with the Apple developer, seems to fix all the previous problems with Outlook crashing or hanging after synching calendars, causing problems for other add-ins, and in crashing Outlook when connected or disconnected using the COM Add-Ins dialog.

So it looks like that nightmare has been put to bed, at least in relation to the Apple calendar synch add-in. The original problem of course still exists in relation to other add-ins, but at least Apple has fixed their problems.

Kudos to Apple for being so cooperative. We all also owe special thanks to Microsoft for recognizing the severity of the problem when I reported it and escalating my bug to the highest levels as soon as I filed it."

Thanks for the update Ken.

Itunes
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/


An Outlook Add-in Bug
http://www.slipstick.com/emo/2007/up071129.htm#2

After my article on hosted Exchange (“Tis the Season to Host – Or Not”), I received several questions from folks wondering how Microsoft licensing works for service providers; including a company interested in starting to provide hosting services.

Make no mistake – hosting companies have to pay for Microsoft licensing, just like any other company does. However, service providers do get a flexible option that isn’t available to most other organizations; that option is called the “Service Providers Licensing Agreement” (SPLA). The SPLA is designed exclusively for hosting companies. It allows a hosting company to deploy solutions and pay for them based on usage. That is, the hosting company only has to pay, each month, for however many units of a product that they actually used. Over time, the hosting company will pay more for a product. However, in the short term, monthly payments are less cash outlay for the hosting company; especially given changes in client population. This lets the hosting company charge you less money for your hosting.

In terms of the SPLA, usage of a product is either “subscriber based” or “processor based”. When a product is subscriber based, the hosting company pays each month for a SAL – a Subscriber Access License, which is very similar to a retail or open-license CAL (Client Access License). When a product is processor based, the hosting company pays each month for a PL – a Processor License. A PL is similar to the “Internet Connector” or “External Connector” offered for many Microsoft server products – you can have as many users/devices accessing the product as you desire, limited only by the number of processors involved.

Note that, thankfully, Microsoft doesn’t care about the number of processor cores, unlike some other software companies, only the number of processor “sockets” or actual physical processors installed in a computer. This carries over to virtualization as well. Virtual processors are considered to have the same number of cores as the physical processor and multiple processors are charged only if multiple processors are assigned to a virtual machine.

While this may sound as if it would be quite simple, it actually isn’t. Some products are available only via SAL. Others are available only via PL. Others are available both ways. It can be a hassle for a hosting company to determine which plan makes the most sense for a given function, on a month by month basis.

Also, another complicating factor is “auth” vs. “unauth”. With the sole exception of Windows Server Web Edition, any product that requires authentication via Active Directory (or rather, that the users of the product authenticate via Active Directory), requires that an “authenticated” SAL or PL be used, as opposed to an “unauthenticated” SAL or PL. Authenticated SALs and PLs are significantly more expensive than unauthenticated SALs or PLs. An authenticated SAL is approximately equivalent to Windows Server CAL. Windows Server Web Edition does not have this requirement – specifically to allow Microsoft to compete in the webhosting space (where Linux is still the number one platform that is hosting websites).

The usage of all Microsoft products available under the SPLA is covered in a document that insiders call the SPUR – Service Providers Use Rights. The version for January 2008 is 60 pages of 9 point font and extended page borders – a lot of information.

Prior to the release of Windows Server Web Edition, most companies using Windows Server for hosting would use third party FTP servers and would not allow Windows Authentication on the websites they hosted. This allowed them to avoid the need for authenticated versions of any product.

Microsoft provides a special program to hosting companies called the Microsoft Hosting Program and has a handful of software packages that are designed specifically for hosting companies (Microsoft Solution for Windows-based Hosting, Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration, Microsoft Solution for Windows-based Hosting for Applications, etc.).

I hope this has opened up the curtain, just a little, for how hosting companies pay for licensing. If you want to learn more, including more about the SPUR and the SPLA, these documents and more are available for download directly from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/hostingproviders.mspx.

--
Michael B. Smith
MCSE/Exchange MVP

I've had a couple of questions from OWA users wondering how they can add the 2008-2012 holidays to their calendar. From the client side, the only way is using Outlook. Administrators can use ExMerge to import holidays to user's calendar.

We get a lot of questions about how to schedule recurring appointments that skip weekends or holidays. While Outlook doesn't support a "workday" option for recurring appointments, it is possible, using a third party utility or Excel.

Using Excel, you'll create a worksheet and use the WORKDAY function to create the start dates, then import it into Outlook. Because Excel supports drag to fill or copy cells, you can create a large number of identical events fairly quickly.

The formula you'll use for recurring workday events is =WORKDAY(x,y,z) where the first parameter (x) is a date (or cell containing a date) that is day you want to start from. The second parameter (y) is the number of days to skip, and the final parameter (z) is an array of dates that you want to exclude.

For example, a formula of =WORKDAY(A2,4,F2:F147) reads the date in cell A2, adds 4 days and excluded the holidays in cells F2 through F147.

For complete steps, see
Create Appointments for Every X Workday
http://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/everyx.htm

If you aren't into working with Excel or need to do this fairly frequently, try
WS:Repeat Appointment II
http://www.websetters.co.uk/WSAddIns/Repeat%20Appointment/index.htm

For the average company that may deploy one or two Exchange Servers, perhaps there is sufficient paranoia that installing such a mission critical application requires personal attention throughout. For a larger company that is deploying several servers, especially where multiple servers host similar roles, there is the option of deploying Exchange 2007 using the unattended installation feature. An unattended installation is just setup with all the parameters provided up front so the administrator does not need to manually input these values during the installation process.

For Exchange 2007, you can run setup.com (also known as exsetup) from the command line with all of the input parameters needed to complete the installation without further administrator attention. For detailed installations, a properly formatted text file with installation configurations can be called. Setup.com has many possible parameters to configure.

For the complete article and command line examples, go to
http://www.slipstick.com/exs/ex07/install.htm#cont

-- William Lefkovics, Technical Director
Mojave Media Group, LLC Las Vegas, NV