TechNet Magazine > Home > Columns >  Field Notes: TechNet Magazine Articles
TechNet Magazine: Field Notes rss

All TechNet Magazine Columns
  • Field Notes: Building Strategic Vision into IT
    Romi Mahajan - June 2009
    Rather than fighting against the introduction of consumer technologies into IT organizations, IT pros should consider the ways they themselves use these technologies, and how this knowledge can be translated into a business resource.

  • Field Notes: IT Does Matter
    Romi Mahajan - May 2009
    Romi Mahajan notes the reasons people sometimes doubt the value of IT, then discusses why those reasons have little validity.

  • Field Notes: Customer Centricity
    Romi Mahajan - April 2009
    A look at why IT organizations need to really care about the customers they serve, act on that commitment consistently, and collect feedback on their performance.

  • Field Notes: Listening to the User
    Vivek Bhaskaran - March 2009
    Find out how establishing a system for listening to both internal and external customers can help your IT department become a more vital part of the larger business structure.

  • Field Notes: IT’s Punctuated Equilibrium
    Romi Mahajan - February 2009
    What does change really mean in the world of IT? Romi Mahajan discusses three theories of change, offering a historical perspective on how IT has evolved and what we can expect to experience in the near future.

  • Field Notes: Media and the Future of Content
    Romi Mahajan - February 2009
    While new technologies and media can facilitiate the speed and breadth of content, it does not impact impact the meaning or the message.

  • Field Notes: What On Earth Is Green IT?
    Jim Lynch - January 2009
    Get a quick overview of some simple IT upgrades that can provide both environmental and cost cutting benefits.

  • Field Notes: IT's Surprises
    Romi Mahajan - January 2009
    Although many CIOs want to avoid the public eye, a lively discussion at a recent conference revealed that perhaps the opposite is actually true—the IT department should take the time to extol its virtues and reveal its accomplishments to the people it supports.

  • Field Notes: Prep Your Patch Policy
    Mark D. Scott - December 2008
    Without a thorough and consistent service pack policy, an organization runs the risk of disruptions and downtime. This is because systems throughout the organization may have different patches installed. The key is to think outside your domain.

  • Field Notes: Mark{IT}ing: Synergy in the Shadows
    Romi Mahajan - December 2008
    This column delves into the potentials of aligning IT and marketing.

  • Field Notes: Old Wine in New Bottles
    Romi Mahajan - November 2008
    Romi Mahajan reflects on how technology has dramatically impacted community, but explains why there will always be a need for in-person meetings and events.

  • Field Notes: High-Capacity Color Bar Code
    Gavin Jancke - October 2008
    Gavin Jancke has developed a new bar code, using colors and triangles, that has much higher data capacity than traditional black and white bar codes. Take a closer look at these high-capacity color barcodes.

  • Field Notes: Innovation from Within
    Romi Mahajan - September 2008
    Romi Mahajan explains his theory of “Innovation from Within,” which emphasizes both human creativity and capital as keys to sustained comparative advantage.

  • Field Notes: IMAP Saves the World
    R'ykandar Korra'ti - August 2008
    Do you have e-mail saved in many different places, in different formats, and on different operating systems? Dara Korra’ti explains how you can access all your mail from one place using IMAP4.

  • Field Notes: Ensure Election Accuracy
    Josh Benaloh - July 2008
    Examine vulnerabilities in today's U.S. election system and see how cryptography can be used to create fully verifiable election results.

  • Field Notes: Sharing a Split Screen
    Kentaro Toyama - June 2008
    Developed by Microsoft Research India, Split Screen allows two users to share a monitor while running separate instances of the OS on each side.

  • Field Notes: Multiple Mice, One PC
    Kentaro Toyama - May 2008
    What do you do when students outnumber the computers available in a classroom setting? Microsoft Research India has developed a solution, termed MultiPoint, that allows multiple mice to be used simultaneously on one computer.

  • Field Notes: A MARvellous Initiative
    Neil Fawcett - April 2008
    See how the new Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) program can help companies deal with confusing software licensing issues when refurbishing old PCs.

  • Field Notes: Preparing for IT 2.0
    Romi Mahajan - March 2008
    Here's a look at the importance of learning from the past in order to address the challenges that the future holds for IT.

  • Field Notes: Donate Your PC
    Jim Lynch - February 2008
    When you donate and reuse old hardware, you keep old hardware out of landfills-and that helps to preserve our environment. These tips can help you effectively delete personal data from your old computer equipment so it will be ready for reuse.

  • Field Notes: Your Most Important Task of the Day
    Eric N. Bush - January 2008
    When you're working on a project, don't underestimate the importance of setting aside time to think, plan, and prioritize.

  • Field Notes: The Fungible Future
    Romi Mahajan - December 2007
    IT has become "consumerized" as technology and perceptions in personal life have merged with technology and perceptions in professional life. And the effects on both business and personal life are profound.

  • Field Notes: The Cod of Conduct
    Betsy Aoki - November 2007
    When community members start acting, perhaps you just need a big fish. See how social engineering helped to save Live QnA.

  • Field Notes: Recycle Your PC
    Jim Lynch - October 2007
    With its relatively unknown Community Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher program, Microsoft supports projects that improve education, create jobs, and enable sustainable economic opportunities for underserved communities.

  • Field Notes: Free Food and Training Tips
    Michael Dragone - September 2007
    Good user education is critical to keeping issues to a minimum. So don’t forget the importance of providing casual training sessions and roaming the halls to see if anyone has questions they wouldn’t bring up otherwise.

  • Field Notes: IM Interviews
    Nathan G. Jensen - August 2007
    You have one position to fill and a large stack of resumes from around the globe. How do you quickly narrow your search? The answer may be to do interviews over IM. Here's one developer's success story.

  • Field Notes: Talk to Your Developers
    David Aiken - June 2007
    Getting developers to build more manageable applications is easier than you think. It all starts with communication. Developers see software differently than administrators. But by talking to developers, administrators can explain what is important to them and developers can do a better job designing code accordingly.

  • Field Notes: Staying Sharp
    Joshua Hoffman - May 2007
    As your career advances and your responsibilities change, you may suddenly discover one day that you’re not actually administering a system or managing an infrastructure. Just don’t forget to spend hands-on time with the latest technologies, as this is the best way to keep at the top of your game.

  • Field Notes: The Joy (and Pain) of Learning
    Mark D. Scott - April 2007
    When the joy of being an early adopter begins to fade remember that Knowledge makes technology easier to use and easier to support. As IT professionals, we need to stay out there experimenting with new products. You just might be surprised with what you find.

  • Field Notes: The Doctor Is In
    Matt Hester - March 2007
    At a party, being an IT pro is sort of like being a doctor. Everybody has a question about a problem they've been having. But sometimes, even the experts overlook the simplest solutions.

  • Field Notes: It Just Stops Working
    R'ykandar Korra'ti - February 2007


  • Field Notes: Tech Support for In-Laws
    James Snell - January 2007


  • Field Notes: Learn to Ask for Help
    Edward Dake - November 2006


  • Field Notes: Where Did the Net Go?
    R'ykandar Korra'ti - October 2006


  • Field Notes: The Job Candidate’s Job
    Glenn Wasserman - September 2006


  • Field Notes: TLC for Your Server
    Jay Shaw - August 2006


  • Field Notes: An Ounce of Prevention
    Jay Shaw - July 2006
    All good IT pros worry about their servers. If something goes wrong it’s your problem and it’s usually a big one. Most of you stick your servers in a closet and neglect them. Unless something blows up, you may not even look at them for months at a time.

  • Field Notes: Building Sound Walls
    Mark Scott - May • June 2006
    As IT professionals, we need to build an ordered realm. We want the citizens within our network realm to work and live safely and securely, and we want to protect the assets of this realm. We know there are barbarians out there who might want to acquire our assets and use them for their own nefarious ends, so we build a wall around our corporate computing assets.

  • Field Notes: The Infamous Jargon Barrier
    Ron Melanson - March • April 2006
    We’ve all done it at one point or another in our career. We find ourselves in the presence of an executive from our company and look to capitalize on the opportunity, making sure that they know about the great work we are doing.

  • Field Notes: Don't Lose the Manual
    Mark Scott - January • February 2006
    I have been mucking with computers since I was in the 5th grade. I built microcomputers on breadboards, wrote assembler programs, manually linked network drivers, assembled computers from piles of boxes—all those really old school techie things.

  • Field Notes: Real Pros Don't Run as Normal User
    Shelly Bird - November • December 2005
    Real techs think they have got to log in with the rights of a higher power on their system, even to check their e-mail or surf the Web. Ditto for developers, doctors, and everyone else who is convinced their job is important and requires full-blown Administrator privileges.

  • Field Notes: IT and Life Experiences
    Joshua Hoffman - Spring 2005
    IT pros don't write code. IT pros don't develop applications, and we certainly don't want anything to do with mathematical algorithms and binary search trees. We leave that to the dev geeks with CompSci PhDs and cases of Mountain Dew under their desk.

  • Field Notes: IT And Life Experiences
    Andrew Shuman - Winter 2005
    So here is the situation. You've been here before, a hundred times if not more. Your server worked perfectly, flawlessly serving up Web pages, photos from the company meeting, and departmental memos on cost-cutting measures.

TechNet Features

Resources

TechNet Subscriptions

Not a TechNet Subscriber?

Confidently evaluate Microsoft software and plan deployments with a Microsoft TechNet Subscription.

      
Page view tracker