2 things

This post will contain technical stuff. Consider yourself warned.

2 Things I Think are Tops
1.) Live Communications Server 2005
LCS2005 is t3h l33t. As far as emerging technologies are concerned, I'm loving this little SIP-based masterwork. Every time I mention to someone that I'm going to impliment this next year, they get all excited and ask a million questions. I mentioned it in my recent job interview, and after some small explanation of it's function, my interviewers faces looked like they'd been dipped in happy-glow juice. Our Microsoft Education rep I think is quite blown away by how advanced my workplace is becoming. He sounded increadibly excited to hear we'll be putting in LCS2005 next year, and insisted I come to an event this week so he could meet me in person.
So why is this product so nifty? Well, it's all about the communication really. My job interviewers were impressed because I talked about how the product facilitates instantaneous and easy communication. You get an email from someone, can see if they're on or offline and can respond with a single click - whether that's to call them, send an IM, or send an email. It's just plain nifty.

2.) SharePoint
I'm not really going to say too much about this, but I'm really starting to dig deep into the whole SharePoint archetecture and i'm LOVING it. I've downloaded code for a bare-bones webpart and have installed a copy of Visual Studio .NET and plan to be writing my own webparts in the not too distant future. I'm feeling the l33t, I really am.


2 Things I Hate
1.) Aquasitions and Mergers
Somewhere before 2003, the IT department of my work bought a Quantum Snap! Server 4100. At the time, it was probably one of the leading models. I'm not sure what software revision was installed on it at that time, but somewhere between 2003/2004 we re-tasked that server, and I decided that it really needed a software upgrade. However, none of the links in the UI seemed to work anymore. It turns out that Quantum was no more, and Snap! products could now be found under their own brand, Snap Appliance. So I found the relevant software upgrade, which was available for free, and off we went.
Fast forward to today: Same server, needing a software upgrade. It doesn't seem to like playing in our non-NetBIOS environment so I go hunting for the relevant software updates to fix the problem. Turns out that Snap Appliance had been bought out by Maxtor, who then onsold them to Adaptec. Adaptec, it seems, didn't like the idea that Snap's customers were getting their updates for free, so they only put the most recent OS update on their page - the one that will only update servers already running version 4 - but not mine, which is still on version 3. Some Googling has unearthed that this is a common problem, and unless you're willing to cough up money for the upgrade, a lack of it renders your Snap server virtually useless in a Win2003 network environment. At least in any kind of managed state.
A mate of mine thinks he might have the upgrade lying around, which would be awesome, but doesn't take away my angst at the fact that these updates used to be free. GRRRR!!! Flippin' aquasitions and mergers.

2.) Money
Why would I say I hate money? Does it not facilitate the very things I enjoy the most, such as technology and gaming? Well yes - if you HAVE it. When you don't have it, it becomes the brick wall to most great ideas, many an enjoyable pursuits, and to any potential asset purchase. When I have money, I can make my wife extremely happy by taking her to dinner, and buying her flowers.
"Wait a second," I hear you say, "there's plenty you can do without money!"
Really? Really really? Think about it for a second. My wife loves picnics, and that is often sited as a non-cost outing. But this is not true. There is an assumption that you already have:

a.) food in your cupboards,
b.) petrol in your car [you can only have so many picnics in your backyard], and
c.) pants. You can't have a picnic without pants. At least not legally.

So although a picnic may be a cheaper alternative, it's definatley not FREE. Money, unfortunatley, is essential to almost EVERYTHING.
So therefore, I hate it. I wish everything was free. Socialism! Yaha! Or something like that...