And the winner is…

Posted on by March 4, 2014

Here we are (well, I am), congratulating our finalists at the CanHave Lions’ Lair competition last month:

Me with Rayeesa Asghar of Rayeesa’s Indian Kitchen.

With the other Lions, L-R Sally Phillips of Women2Success, Neil Rose of Neil Rose Coaching and Mark Lindley of Mark Lindley Business Development, and the winner, Rebecca Finney of Cathay Trade.

And lastly, Lions and finalists, L-R Rayeesa Asghar, Tracy Ricketts of Herefordshire Deli Hampers, me, Sally Phillips, Rebecca Finney, Neil Rose, Mark Lindley, and Mary Buffrey & Elizabeth Beddoes of Noodles Soft Play Centre.

Microsoft – read it and patch

Posted on by March 4, 2014

It’s hard to keep up this morning with the tidal wave of articles demonstrating clearly why clinging onto proprietary software is becoming more of the ‘devil’ and less of the ‘know’.

TheRegister has published a brief article on Microsoft’s forthcoming bumper Patch Tuesday, Microsoft Plans Biggest Ever Patch Tuesday. Well, you might think, isn’t it marvellous that Microsoft is responding to problems? Well, er, yes, but that’s like saying it’s marvellous that BP responded to that irksome oil leak. Rather, goggle with horror that ever more holes are being found in Microsoft products and even Office 2010 is included in an advisory. There is an alternative.

Build your business on solid foundations

Posted on by March 4, 2014

Another cracking article this morning, this time by Paul Smeddle of The Positive Internet Company, Open Source in the Enterprise. Look past the close type and the ads, and there’s some real sense in there. The last couple of paragraphs are quite technical, but the first three tell the average business all they need to know about reasons to go Open Source.

As we’ve been saying for a long time now, building your company’s infrastructure around proprietary software is a massive risk which benefits no-one more than the software house that hopes to suck you in for the long term. This article explains the benefits to be had from throwing your lot in with open source software, as well as the pitfalls faced by relying on proprietary software. Read it with an open mind.