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You are here: Home / Archives for Google Apps

Microsoft Windows 8 vs. Apple Mountain Lion is like comparing Gasoline vs. Diesel Fuel

July 25, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

The blogosphere has been in overdrive with reviews of the latest operating system releases from both Microsoft and Apple.  It is very entertaining to read the endless commentary debating the merits and faults of each operating system.  In many respects it is a classic “Coke vs. Pepsi” style debate.  Most people have a definite taste preference that is unlikely to change.  We all recall age old question: “Are you a Mac or a PC?”

Both camps seem to miss the point entirely:  Unlike Coke vs. Pepsi where both are Cola products that can, and frequently are substituted for each other, the same does not apply to the Windows and Apple operating systems.  Apple operating systems only run on Apple hardware.  And, barring 3rd party software (Parallels or VMWare Fusion) or custom installations (Boot Camp), no version of Microsoft Windows can run on Apple Hardware.  (And if you are running Microsoft Windows in some capacity on an Apple computer, is that not making them equal? – but I digress.)

I view Apple like Diesel powered vehicles and Microsoft like Gasoline powered vehicles.  You can sing the praises of Diesel engines and their increased fuel efficiency vs. the performance of Gasoline engines.  The fact is that no matter how many Diesel vehicles are sold this year, the number will pale by comparison to the number of Gasoline vehicles.  And, if you were to add up all the gas vs. diesel fueled vehicles in similar fashion to the installed base of Microsoft Windows vs. the Apple operating systems, you start to see the futility of debating who is going to win the operating system war.

Does it really matter how great Diesel is vs. Gasoline as a Fuel for an engine?  If you have a Gasoline powered car, you are using Gasoline in the fuel tank.  Diesel is not an option or substitute.  The same holds true for running most line-of-business software applications:  The Apple operating system is just not an option.   Microsoft Windows, and its’ many flavors are the only choice on the menu.  As an example, virtually all Professional Tax preparation, Accounting System, and Audit/Write-up software applications are Microsoft Windows only.   (Cloud based products excluded.)

We can discuss how spectacular Apple Mountain Lion is:  the iPad/iPhone like experience brought to an iMac or MacBook Pro, the new cool graphics, widgets, whatever…  But, the practical reality is that if I am in a Microsoft Windows world, debating the merits of Microsoft Windows 8 vs. Apple Mountain Lion just makes for either wishful thinking or great cocktail conversation.  We can even marvel at the new interface of Windows 8 and how Microsoft is trying to unify the user experience across all devices but you will never see it running on an iPad or an iPhone.

Some will say it is not about the Business environment but about Consumers and which operating system, Microsoft or Apple, is going to power my Toaster, or on a more serious note, my Smartphone, Tablet, and possibly Computer – if not replaced by a Tablet.

I respond that the conversation is not about which Fossil Fuel will power my next car: Gasoline or Diesel – but what comes next?   Using the car analogy, it will most likely be a hybrid or perhaps a fully electric vehicle.  Maybe Fusion technology will be available in my lifetime.

The next operating system to power my Smartphone, Toaster, or Computer could be Android or ChomeOS – both from Google.  If that becomes true, where does that leave the Microsoft vs. Apple operating system debate?

It is spectacular that Microsoft and Apple are definitely making technology easier to use than ever before with their evolutionary changes in the operating systems.

The concern is that Microsoft and Apple may be perfecting the Buggy Whip for the the Horse Drawn Carriage, both of which were completely replaced by the Motor Carriage, within one generation.  And, Microsoft and Apple may wake up one day and realize that Google has completely changed the model by eliminating the concept of an operating system and having everything run in “The Cloud.”

Filed Under: Commentary, Consulting, Google Apps, Office365 Tagged With: Apple Mountain Lion, ChromeOS, google, Microsoft Windows 8

Blackberry Email Account Architecture and Sync Issues with Gmail

July 24, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

Blackberry Sad Gmail Due to a fundamental change in the architecture of the Blackberry software, the synchronization of Contacts and Calendar entries between accounts is no longer supported.  In the early days of a Blackberry, if you had a company email address that was connected to a Microsoft Exchange Server and a personal use account at Gmail, you could use the Google Sync App to keep the contacts and calendar synchronized between the two.

Since the Blackberry device supports Gmail natively as a specific type of email account type, the functionality has significantly changed.  RIM has taken the position that your Business Contacts and Calendar should be separate and apart from your Personal Contacts and Calendar.  Each account you create on a Blackberry device gets its’ own email folder, calendar, and contact list.  The problem is that RIM does not maintain this separation in the default view when displaying the Contacts or Calendars for business and personal items.

In what I term, “Defective by Design”, the Blackberry commingles all personal and business contacts in one view.  It does the same for all personal and business calendar entries.  Even though you can select to display the Contacts or Calendar associated with just one account, i.e. your Gmail account, as soon as you return to the main menu or leave the contacts or calendar app, the selection changes back to “all.”  This would seem to contradict RIM’s reasoning of personal vs. business because the default view for contacts and calendar events always commingles the personal and business accounts.

It is interesting that in addition to having an “All Messages” commingled folder, the Blackberry device also has individual folders (App icons) for each mail account.  Why they do not give the same option for quickly and permanently allowing one specific view, personal or business, for Contacts and Calendar entries as a default or as dedicated App button is a mystery.

This is a problem because many people were previously using Google Sync to keep all of the Gmail Contacts/Calendar Events and all of the Microsoft Exchange Contacts/Calendar Events in complete and perfect synchronization. Make a change in one, and it magically appeared in the other.  Because of the current Blackberry architecture, users see all of their Contacts and Calendar Entries duplicated unless they select just one of the views, personal or business every time the return to the Contact or Calender App.

With the new architecture, each account and its corresponding mail, contacts, and calendar stand alone.  Each account can sync back only to its’ respective Mail Server:  Gmail or Microsoft Exchange.

If you truly separate your personal life using Gmail and your business life using Microsoft Exchange on your Blackberry, then this is nothing more than an incredible annoyance.  All of your Personal and Business Contacts and Calendar Events, by default, will display all of the time – unless you make a selection each time you enter the Contact or Calendar App.  There will not be any duplicates but your personal and business life will be forever commingled in the display on your Blackberry.

If you use want to use your Gmail Account and Microsoft Exchange account interchangeably, accessing the same set of synchronized contacts and calendar events, this feature will no longer be supported.  Google has announced that it will be discontinuing Google Sync for Blackberry effective September 1st, 2012.  This will require you to do some serious housekeeping and separation of your personal from business contacts to avoid displaying duplicates on your Blackberry.

Filed Under: Google Apps, Office365, Tech in Plain English Tagged With: Blackberry, Blackberry Sync, Email Sync, Google Sync for Blackberry, RIM

Google Webmaster Tools

June 30, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

Google WebMaster Tools LogoGoogle Webmaster Tools provide you with detailed reports about how visible pages on your site are to Google.

Using Google Webmaster Tools you can:

  • See how Google crawls and indexes your site and see specific errors generated such as “page not found.”
  • Learn about internal and external links and which key word search queries bring traffic to your site.
  • Upload a Site Map file which tells Google which pages are most important and which URLs (pages) you want Google to index.

Google WebMaster Tools Health CheckOne of the most helpful aspects of Google Webmaster Tools is the “Site Health” area.  Here Google tells you about Crawl errors.  Google is extremely efficient and subsequently many sites have their generic sample posts indexed at Google.  You delete them but Google still thinks they exist.  The Crawl Error report will tell you the exact page location and the date the error was detected giving you the opportunity to investigate further.

Google has no way of knowing, without a little human intervention, if a “Page Not Found” is a technical problem, a page that is now behind a secure login, or has been removed.  Once Google indexes a page or is told to index a page at a certain URL, it will keep trying until told otherwise.  It is through the Google Webmaster Tools that you can mark these errors as “fixed” or permanently remove a URL from Google’s index.

Similar to Google Analytics, (Read my post on “Google Analytics for WordPress“) Google Webmaster Tools provides specialized traffic analysis focusing on and listing the search terms that caused your site to be displayed somewhere in the results listing of the query and its’ average position.  And there are extensive reports on which sites link back to your site as well as how your site links to itself between categories and pages.  Of course, Google+ activity reports are included showing search impact, activity, and audience.

Google OptimizationThe most important feature of Google Webmaster Tools is the Optimization Section.  It is here that you can upload a SiteMap.xml file that tells Google about pages that it might not otherwise find during the Index Crawl and it gives you an opportunity to definitively tell Google about the content of your site.  In a similar manner to the Search Engine Optimization discussed in my Post, “All in One SEO Pack for WordPress”, the SiteMap file can also provide metadata about the types of content on your site such as video, images or news.  A SiteMap entry for a video might include the run time, category, and format information.  For an image, the subject matter, type, and any license information.  A SiteMap file can also alert Google to the last time of a site update and the frequency of change of or addition of new content to the site. (A future post will discuss how to create SiteMap.xml file.)

Google WebMaster Tools SummaryIn short, using the Google Webmaster Tools Dashboard allows me to keep my site as “Google Friendly” as possible by alerting me immediately to any Indexing Crawl Errors,  the status of my SiteMap.xml file updates, and it helps me determine which keyword searches are drawing traffic to my JasonPalmer.com WordPresss web site.

Useful Google Webmaster Links:

Google Webmaster Tools:
– http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools

Google Webmaster Academy – Everything you ever wanted to know about Google
– http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=checklist.cs&tab=1095542

Google Webmaster Tools Help:
– http://support.google.com/webmasters/?hl=en

Filed Under: Consulting, Google Apps, Tech in Plain English, Wordpress Tagged With: google, google analytics, google webmaster tools, search engine optimization, SEO, site map, sitemap xml, sitemaps, webmaster tools

Google Analytics for WordPress

June 28, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

Google Analytics WordPress LogoGoogle Analytics for WordPress answers the age-old question, “I built it, did they come?”  Every web server creates a log file that tracks details about the visitors to a web site.   The challenge becomes getting access to that file and then having the tools to process the raw data to get meaningful information.  It all sounds very complicated and it was, but not anymore.  Furthermore, traditional web visitor log file analysis was very generic and not optimized for Content Managed Web sites such as WordPress.

Is there an easier way?  Yes, Google Analytics for WordPress.  (Note:  Google Analytics can be implemented on any web site even though the scope of this article is specific to WordPress.)

Google Analytics for WordPress is a plugin that instantly reports back the activity on your site to the Google Analytics Engine for analysis and reporting.

Google Analytics Pie ChartInformation includes Analytics on:

Content – The parts of the web site that had the most activity.

Social – Determines the interaction with Social Media platforms such as Google +1 and many others.

Mobile – Activity/Visitors using devices such as iPads, Tablets, and Smartphones.

Conversion – Response rate to Ad campaigns, direct response, and eCommerce – as applicable.

Advertising – How well social, mobile, search and display ads are working at bringing traffic to the site.

Google Analytics LogoTo view the information being communicated to the Google Analytics Engine, you need to sign up for a Basic Account, which is free, at the Google Analytics website at http://www.google.com/analytics.  (If you already have a Gmail or other Google Site account, you can simply activate Google Analytics for your account.)  Once you have an account, you need to perform a few simple steps to validate your web site domain (i.e.  JasonPalmer.com ) to prove to Google Analytics that you are authorized to collect information on the domain.  You can do this by manually entering your Google Analytics account number also called the “UA Code” in to the settings section of the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin.  Or, if you are using Google WebMaster Tools, you can authenticate the site via an entry in the Zone file of the Domain Name Server (DNS) that is Authoritative for your domain.  (Note: If you understand the term DNS, and you know who you are, this will be the easier method.  For those that do not, Google WebMaster Tools will be discussed in another post shortly.)

Google Analytics ChartOnce everything is fully configured and connected, it may take up to twenty-four hours for Google Analytics to start creating reports from the collected visitor data.  These reports will be extremely beneficial in helping you understanding the activity on your web site.  The reports will break down your visitors by geography, language, location; are they new or returning visitors?;  the frequency of their visits and how long they stay on the site;  which web browser and operating system did they user – (Internet Explorer or FireFox or Safari) and are they Mac, PC, Android, IOS, etc.; source of traffic such as Google or a Social media site; analysis of the content for speed, page visits, page response time; internal search; and numerous other variations on the major reporting areas listed.

Sign up for a Google Analytics Account at:
– http://www.google.com/analytics

Learn more about Google Analytics for WordPress at:
– http://yoast.com/wordpress/google-analytics

The Google Analytics for WordPress plugin at WordPress.org:
– http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-analytics-for-wordpress

Filed Under: Consulting, Google Apps, Tech in Plain English, Wordpress Tagged With: google, google analytics, google webmaster tools, web analytics, wordpress, wordpress plugin

Office Applications in the Cloud – Google Apps for Business and Office365

June 10, 2012 By Jason Palmer Leave a Comment

Google Apps for Business LogoTraditional software applications like Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, Quickbooks, and Contact Management, like ACT! are installed locally on the Computer. One downloads an installation program or inserts a CD/DVD to load the software application to the computers’ hard drive.

Slimmed down versions are available via “The Cloud” in a format called “Software as a Service” or SaaS for short. Examples of Word Processing, Spread Sheet, Presentation, and Email applications, entirely web based would be Microsoft Office365, Microsoft Live and Google Docs.  SalesForce and SugarCRM are examples of full featured Contact Management and Sales Cycle software that are entirely web based. Quckbooks and TurboTax have complete Online Versions as well.

There are definite advantages to both types of offerings depending on the circumstances. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications are usually completely inaccessible if there is no Internet Access. For the true “Mobile Warrior” traditional, locally installed applications may still be the way to go as they guarantee access to applications and data at all times. Many SaaS offerings have or will have shortly, applications which can be installed locally that will provide the ability to access data when not connected to the Internet.

If one has a number of desk based employees coupled with a number of incidental technology use employees such as shop floor personnel, call center staff, and anyone else who should have Corporate Email and perhaps some Word Processing capability to stay connected, but the cost of a dedicated computer is prohibitive, then Software as a Service may be the optimal solution. If the average Office Application Suite costs approximately $300 (Microsoft Office Standard Edition) per seat, then it starts to make economic sense to look at a Software as a Service Online Application Suite in either the Free or Nominal Monthly Subscription cost basis.

Office365 LogoA number of factors affect the pricing but many Small Businesses can get by with the Free Editions of the Suites (Google Docs and Microsoft Live) and for those that need more features prices start as low as $4 for Email or $6 or $8/month for a Basic Suite and go up to $22/Month for a Microsoft Premium Suite which include a fully licensed copy of Microsoft Professional 2010 and Voice Integration with the Microsoft Communications Server.  All Microsoft plans include access to a custom RIM Hosted version of the Blackberry Enterprise Server for seamless Blackberry Connectivity and full Active-Sync support for Android and Apple IOS (iPhone/iPad/iTouch) devices.

Google Docs LogoGoogle Docs (Apps)  are free for individuals and small teams while Google Apps for Business start at $5/month ($50/year) for the Full Featured Suite (Gmail, Docs, Calendar) or $10/month which includes the addition of email archiving, retention policies, and E-discovery which can be beneficial to companies that must follow compliance policies.

The key philosophical difference between Google Apps and Microsoft Office is that Microsoft wants their offering to be an extension of the Microsoft Office Servers and Applications already installed in your corporate environment. Google Apps just wants to make you instantly more productive with zero capital infrastructure cost outlay.

 

Cloud Office Application Suites

Microsoft Live – http://www.live.com  – (Consumer Oriented)
Microsoft Office365 – http://www.office365.com

Google Docs – http://docs.google.com  – (Consumer Oriented)
Google Apps for Business – http://www.google.com/apps/business

 

Cloud Accounting Applications

Quickbooks Online – http://quickbooks.intuit.com
TurboTax Online – http://turbotax.intuit.com

 

Cloud CRM – Customer Relationship Management

SalesForce – http://www.salesforce.com
SugarCRM – http://www.sugarcrm.com

Filed Under: Cloud, Google Apps, Office365 Tagged With: application suite, cloud applications, cloud computing, everything as a service, google apps, google docs, microsoft office, microsoft outlook, office applications, office applications suite, office suite, quickbooks, software applications, sugarcrm, web application

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