In the course of this year, almost 10 million antiquated Windows Server 2003 servers will have their applications and data removed and deployed on new servers, and the old servers will be shut down and disposed of. It is a natural assumption that the destination servers will be Server 2012, but that's not necessarily the case, nor should it be.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 10 (FREE!) Microsoft tools to make admins happier
You have three choices from Microsoft: Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2008 R2, and the Azure cloud service. Here are the pros and cons of each.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Yota, the Russian smartphone maker with the dual-screen phone, announced this week that it will bring its YotaPhone 2 to the U.S. through an Indiegogo campaign to raise $50,000 to pay for certifications and regulatory fees in North America.And the crowd has delivered. As of this writing, Yota has raised $80,000 in just a few hours, well beyond what it needed. Now to clear the FCC hurdles.The YotaPhone 2 can be pre-ordered for $500, and you get a three-month subscription to BookMate as well as a Yota Bumper case. There is also the Yota Wireless Power Bank for wireless charging, which will cost $50.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Many companies not making the migration off of Windows Server 2003 before support ends in July cite cost as the reason; either they can't afford it or they haven't got the budget this year but will later in the year or next year. If you are in such a scenario, you should still begin preparing for the eventual move and not wait until you have the money to begin planning. That way you can hit the ground running when the funds are there. Endpoint security company Bit9 recommends several steps in the process:Don't do it alone: A smooth transition to a new platform will require full buy-in and agreement from any and all impacted stakeholders. That means not just the IT department, but the business units impacted and the budgeting finance team.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Japan has a problem. In a nation of 120 million people and falling, 33 million people, one-quarter of its total population, are over 65. Many of these elderly are disconnected from family or just want to maintain their independence, but Japan doesn't have anywhere near enough healthcare workers to tend to these ageing people, and given its xenophobia, the government isn't keen on letting in foreign workers to fill the gaps.The solution? An iPad with some IBM apps. Company CEOs Tim Cook and Virginia Rometty met in New York City along with the CEO of Japan Post Group to announce the initiative to help Japan's seniors better deal with everyday issues and connect with healthcare providers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Windows Phone is not setting the world on fire, which means that only about 3% of all mobile phone users even know about some of its cool features. Rather than keep those features to itself, Microsoft is making them available to other platforms.The company has announced that Office Lens, its photo scanning app that crops pictures and automatically drops them into OneNote or Onedrive, is available for free at Apple's App Store, and that the Office Lens Android Preview is available for testing.The idea behind Office Lens is comparable to the Scannable feature in Evernote. It lets you take a quick picture of a whiteboard, receipt, billboard, or anything else similar and quickly scan and save it to a storage service. The app will auto-crop receipts, whiteboards, and anything else where there is a white object against a dark background.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
This past fall saw the worst Ebola outbreak ever ravage western Africa, and while medical researchers are trying to find a drug to treat or prevent the disease, the process is long and complicated. That's because you don't just snap your fingers and produce a drug with a virus like Ebola. What's needed is a massive amount of trial and error to find chemical compounds that can bind with the proteins in the virus and inhibit replication. In labs, it can take years or decades.Thanks to thousands of strangers, Ebola researchers are getting the help and computing power they need to shave off the time needed to find new drugs by a few years.MORE ON NETWORK WORLD: 26 crazy and scary things the TSA has found on travelers
Distributed computing is not a new concept, but as it is constituted today, it's an idea born of the Internet. Contributors download a small app that runs in the background and uses spare PC compute cycles to perform a certain process.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft announced two Office-related partnerships for small- to medium-size business (SMB), with AT&T and Deutsche Telekom, at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona this week.The AT&T Mobile Office Suite deal with the second-largest mobile carrier involves Microsoft's Office 365 apps, along with unified access to voice calls, email, calendars, messaging, HD video conferencing, and file sharing, on almost any mobile device.The Microsoft Office 365 suite includes the usual apps – Word, Excel, and PowerPoint – plus Lync, Exchange, Outlook, and OneDrive, all usable from a desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet. Lync allows for domestic or international voice calls while in the United States.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Andy Patrizio