My blog has been quiet for a very long time - I thought I'd pick it up again, and use it to share some more techie stuff.
This one is about setting Windows directory permissions in VB.NET, as there are lots of questions on forums about it, but not many answers The issue is that many people used adssecurity.dll to do this, and this isn't available for 64bit. Instead you need to use classes from System.Security.AccessControl namespace.
Here's an example that first removes inherited permissions, and then set 'modify' for one account and 'full control' to domain admins. The one odd thing we found is that if the account had just been created it couldn't always be added to the access rule straight away, hence the loop that waits 1 second and then tries again.
Imports System
Imports System.Security.AccessControl
Imports System.Security
Imports System.IO
Function SetHomeDirSecurity2008(ByVal strusername As String, ByVal strPath As String, ByVal strdomain As String) As String
Dim dInfo As New DirectoryInfo(strPath)
Dim dSecurity As DirectorySecurity = dInfo.GetAccessControl()
Dim rule As FileSystemAccessRule
Dim rule2 As FileSystemAccessRule
Dim iFlags As InheritanceFlags
Dim rights As FileSystemRights
' Block inheritenance, tell it not to copy the inherited permissions
dsecurity.SetAccessRuleProtection(True, False)
' new permissions for current folder, files and sub folders
iFlags = InheritanceFlags.ContainerInherit + InheritanceFlags.ObjectInherit
' set rights (these are just added together)
rights = FileSystemRights.Modify
rule = New FileSystemAccessRule(strDomain & "\" & strusername, rights,
iFlags,
PropagationFlags.None,
AccessControlType.Allow)
Dim tries = 0
Dim isDone = False
'Some times it can take a while to add permissions after the account is created
'Try 100 times at 1 second intervals
Do While Not isDone And Not tries > 100
System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.Sleep(1000)
Try
dSecurity.AddAccessRule(rule)
isDone = True
Catch
tries = tries + 1
End Try
Loop
rights = FileSystemRights.FullControl
rule2 = New FileSystemAccessRule(strdomain & "\domain admins", rights,
iFlags,
PropagationFlags.None,
AccessControlType.Allow)
dSecurity.AddAccessRule(rule2)
dInfo.SetAccessControl(dSecurity)
End Function
Just to alert students that you'll be able to get Windows for £30 for a limited time from 30th September if you sign up for the offer using your University email address. There are more details here: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/studentoffer/default.aspx. I used Windows 7 for a few months, and I have to say that it was a lot easier on the eye than Windows Vista (there's a thorough technical evaluation for you!), and, apart from a couple of specific driver problems, very stable, so if you've a fairly modern PC this will be well worth it.
We've just added an incoming SMS number to our text messaging service. We're going to build a few proof of concept applications showing various ways it could be used, for example as an voting system, and as a way of gathering feedback either in real time or not.
If you've got any ideas or example of similar use then get in touch.
"So what do you do in the Summer?" - a question I've been asked quite a few times over the years, as friends assume we just relax while the students are away. This summer is going to be particularly busy, with quite a few major projects. Here's a quick rundown on a few of them.
Storage and Server Replacement.
This is probably the biggest one - we've just completed the procurement of our new Dell/EMC Storage Area Network (SAN), server and backup infrastructure. The first parts have just started arriving. This means we'll have much more storage (so bigger mailboxes, more shared storage), and a new virtual server infrastructure to help us cope with the ever increasing demand for new applications. For the techie amongst you we are going to be using Microsoft's Hyper-V for the virtualisaion rather than the more usual VMWare. More on this another time.
Timetabling Phase 2
Last year we installed a new Timetabling system (Syllabus Plus). This year the timetabling processes has been re-engineered, allowing us to really take advantage of the software. Work over the the summer will include better ensuring better web timetables and integrating data with other systems, for example the student record system.
Network Connection Relocation
As part of the process for the move to our new City Centre Campus we'll be moving our primary network connection to the Caerleon Campus, as the current connection goes to Allt-yr-yn - due for closure 2011.
ID Cards
We'll be reviewing our ID card process (and replacing/upgrading the software), with the aim of integrating our new(ish) Salto lock system in the process, as well as various other systems, such as the new Gladstone system in the sport centre, new printing software, and potentially, cashless payments.
Exchange 2007
We'll start the process to upgrade to Exchange 2007 (from Exchange 2003). The immediate user benefits aren't that great, although Outlook Web Access in Firefox/Mac is a bit better. The real benefits will be better integration with voice mail etc when we move to a new Voice over IP (VOIP) phone system
MyLearning Essentials/Moodle
We've integrated Moodle into our Learning Environment (myLearning Essentials), so we'll undertaking staff development, and working on elements such as the processes behind online course work submission.
That's probably enough for now - other projects include completing our Office 2007 roll-out, supporting our new online enrolment process, reviewing and upgrading our Goldmine CRM software, replacing a lot of computers as part of our rolling replacement programme, and refining the plan for the IT services in our new city centre campus.
Let me know if you want more information on any of these projects.
Apple announced a range of new Macs yesterday - usually a cause for excitement among Apple fans (and sadly I'd have to include myself in that group). I was particularly pleased to see a new Mac Mini - it looked like these may been abandoned.
But...
Wow! Look at the prices! £649 for a decent Mac Mini - no keyboard, monitor etc! £949 for an entry level iMac! They are really high, a big increase over previous models. OK, the specs are increased, but still, we've all grown used to better specs for more money. I believe Apple are blaming the (lack of) value of the pound, and, to be fair, this is probably correct - we are seeing big price increases on other manufactures products as well.
Still, this does make me question the viability of the iMac as a basic desktop computer for those that just need access to email/Internet/office. Before these price rises there was only a small premium for our Macs over our standard PCs, but not now.
It's also worth reminding all staff and students who are thinking of making a purchase that you can get a good educational discount that make the prices a little more palatable:
http://promo.euro.apple.com/edu/hed/routing/uk/index.php
Let's hope this is only a temporary problem!
The snow didn't last long in Caerleon in the end in, so here's a short video clip in case you've forgotten what it looked like already!
[YouTube:5OYC1BLrCR8]
I'm currently taking an MBA at the University, so I'm in the interesting position of being both a staff member and a student. Obviously the course itself is great, but it's also really useful to see things from a student perspective. I'll post some other observations at some point, but here's the story of software for my first assignment. I though this worth sharing because things didn't end of as I'd expected.
Our first assessed assignment is a 3,500 report on leadership styles. This followed on from a group presentation where we'd used Google Docs to create the presentation. This worked really well, as we could collaborate seamlessly. Everyone got to grips with the software, it did everything we needed, and it coped with all four of us editing the presentations at the same time the night before it was due! My first plan, therefore, was to use Google Docs to write the assignment . It's free, and I could work on my it from whatever Mac or PC I was using. Plus it would be backed up.
It all started well, but then I needed to draw a diagram, and I just couldn't get it right in Google Docs. I'm sure it would have been possible, I just didn't have the time, so I saved it in Word format, and decided to try and finish it in OpenOffice. For general home use Open Office is great - it's my home Office application of choice, largely because it's free, but it also does everything I need, and has a drawing package. I created the diagram with no problem, and carried on with my essay, backing it up to memory stick.
I'm sure I could have completed it in OpenOffice, but I really started to miss Microsoft Office's layout features, for example its handling of styles and auto-table layouts. So I gave in and moved to Microsoft Office. Given that I'd ended up with a Microsoft solution I decided to go the whole hog (after all, USB memory sticks are evil!) and used Microsoft Skydrive to backup it up, and give me access to the document from any PC in the same way I had with Google Docs.
So what's the point of this? I was reflecting on this because I think we need to be able to guide our students through the sea of technical options available to them. I'm, sure, for example, most students aren't aware of Skydrive (25Gb of storage for free!) . And without actually trying it, I would, I think be selling Google Docs as a great solution. I think it still has a place, particularly for collaborative works, but I really surprised myself ending up using a wholly Microsoft based solution.
I've just realised that I haven't posted anything since September. This is by far the longest gaps between blog postings, and I blame (or you can thank!) Twitter. In that time I've made made about 70 Twitter updates, which may seem a lot, but I'm hardly a prolific Twitterer compared to some of the people I follow.
This seems to be part of a trend - here are a few other people who've made the same observation:
http://www.thewavingcat.com/2007/11/08/twitter-vs-blogs-revisited/
http://www.wadehodges.com/2008/12/01/catching-up-and-twitter-vs-blogs/
http://blog.andrewparker.net/2007/09/05/twitters-ruining-my-blogging/
http://graemethickins.typepad.com/graeme_blogs_here/2008/04/blogging-less-t.html
and many, many more...
So what's happening? Is this a good thing? I'm not sure, but I've a sneaky feeling that this post would make sense more as tweet "Twittering more - blogging less. Is this part of trend?".
I was asked by a few people outside the University to give an update about Newspace. Newspace is the University's social networking site for new students, based on Ning. I'll give a short update on how it's been used, what next and go over a couple of interesting issues. The bit at the end may give the 'Web 2.0 for free' naysayers some ammunition!
So first, a quick summary on how its been used. Sorry if this is a bit dry and quantitative! At some point we hope do a bit more of a detailed statistical analysis, but here's a summary. We've had 961 students join Newspace, which is a sizeable portion of our intake. We advertised in three ways - an email to students before they joined, a postcard flyer in their joining packs, and a link from the front page of the website. There have been about 280 conversation topics in the main forum - favourite topics have been finding people in the same accommodation and course, and nearly all topics have a good number of responses (probably a few thousand messages in total). On top of this there were 44 groups created, all with their own forums, and a huge amount of use of 'person to person' comments - I can't find an easy way of getting stats on this at the moment. Finally, one of the strengths of Ning is that users can customise their own profile page, and a lot have done this.
Ok, so it's had a lot of use. What next then? In some ways we have a bit of dilemma.
We created Newspace for new students, and my expectation was that use would slowly decline as students came onto campus - after all, they can now meet face-to-face, and now they know one another can easily become Facebook/MySpace friends. We'd then create a new NewSpace for next year. The fun about trying something new is you don't quite know whats going to happen - and at the moment it's still being used, perhaps not quite as much as the flurry of activity when, say, rooms were allocated in halls, but it's still quite steady (and more nocturnal)
We were tempted to open it up to all students and see what happened, but on the other hand, we think maybe it only worked as a 'NewSpace' because all the students were new and in the same sort of position.
So we've decided to stick with our orginal plan for the time being, and keep Newspace as a place for new students. There's nothing to stop other students from joining, but once you are a member of the University you've got full access to MyLearning Essentials (our VLE) myCommunity (although it's fair to say we've seen more activity on NewSpace than MyCommunity and Newport Facebook groups combined...)
If NewSpace does carry on being used and looks like turning into a more permanent fixture we'll obviously rethink.
Finally, what other issues did we face?
We had two main problems to deal with - Google Ads, and a disagreement between Ning and a third party Widget provider. I'm being quite open about these in the hope that it's helpful to other people looking at doing a similar thing.
Let's start with Google Ads. The Ning service is free, if you take Google Ads. Not a problem to start with, they were all for education type things like accomodation services...until I logged in an one day, and got confronted with ads for a couple of other Universities.... NOT GOOD!. The problem with Google Ads is they are personal (I think), so I don't think other people got these, but I can't be sure. So, we decided we needed to remove them ASAP. It only cost £11 a month to get rid of them - but it wasn't that straight forward to arrange payment, just because our Finance people weren't really geared up to paying for this sort of web service (credit card only, monthly debit, in dollars). Still they were very helpful, and we got it sorted quickly.
The next issue is perhaps the most important, as it shows the sort of risks you take when using a free service like this. We used a third party plug in from Widget Laboratory to provide an instant messaging service on Newspace, and this was really popular with some students. Then there was a dispute between Widget Labs and Ning, and the widget was terminated with no notice due to Widget Labs allegedly breaking T&C. There's more about this here:
http://developer.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=1185512%3ATopic%3A63551
The Widget was reinstated after while, but then withdrawn by Widget Labs, who, we believe are now developing for Social Go. I've no idea of the rights and wrongs of the case, but it shows (as with the Twitter text messaging) how you can't rely on these sort of services for critical applications. In this instance it was just a minor inconvenience, but it was an interesting experience. It hasn't put us off, but we'll be hedging our bets, and registering with Social Go as well to keep our options open for next year.
I presented our plans for Microsoft Vista and Office 2007/8 at our Information Strategy Panel today. A quick summary of the plan is as follows:
Vista
We are going to switch to Vista for new PC deployments later this year (unless the user/area has a reason to stick with XP), and we'll switch the student labs to Vista next summer. We aren't going to roll it out to any other PCs apart from to academic staff who need it for teaching/research reasons.
Microsoft Office 2007/08
We'll start rolling out Office 2007/08 out later this year, to academic schools first and then corporate departments. Lots of training and support will be available, as the interface is completely different.
Why do it this way?
Vista is a tricky one. Obviously it's had a huge amount of bad press, and it doesn't have any 'must have features' that make it worth deploying to existing staff PCs. However, it does have some useful features, particular for us on the IT side (easier imaging, better security model) and it seems quite clear that the next version of Windows is going to be Vista part 2, so there isn't much point waiting to see if something different comes along next time. So just using it for new deployment seems to make sense, and XP will be gradually phased out.
Office 2007/08 is more straightforward. Most people seem to prefer it, its starting to be the version that most people (especially students with new PCs) will be using at home, so know is the time to start upgrading so we're in line with user's expectations.
Now the proposal has been approved we'll start putting together a more detailed project plan.
I guess most people with even a passing interest in technology will have picked up on the news that Google have just released its own web browser, Google Chrome. Three questions really - 'why?', 'is it any good?' and 'will anyone use it?'
Lets start with a picture first though...
What you see there is the default home page, with thumbnail links to your most commonly accessed pages, the ability to search your history, and your recent bookmarks and tabs. All very nice - I like it. The thumbnail links seem to be 'inspired' by Opera, but sadly hardly anyone uses that, so that will be new for most people.
So why have Google done this? Well, they've put their version of the answer as a comic strip!
http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/
The long and the short of it is that they are saying that current browsers are intrinsically flaky and dated.
OK, but what does this really mean? I'm speculating here, but all the innovation in the browser market recently has been around FireFox. I know of virtually nobody who knows enough about IT to be able to choose a browser who uses IE. Obviously Google has invested heavily in application development, so does it no longer trust the open source FireFox community to deliver a good enough browser to deliver the cloud computing experience is obviously believes is the future?
There's been a lot of talk about a Google OS, but I wonder whether actually this browser is kind of a future OS? Without wanting to get too technical, Chrome has OS-like features, in particular separate processes for each tab (or application) and a task manager to manager the processes. Are they trying to render the host OS irrelevant?
So is it any good?
From a user interface point of view, so far, (and I've only used it for a couple of hours) I love it. I rarely bother with bookmarks (other than del.icio.us) so the default front page (as described above) is great, and the interface is fast and clean.
Google clearly know who they've got to impress first - there's a menu link called 'Stats for nerds' that's clearly hit the mark - have a look at: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=stats+for+nerds
And it has some really odd features. You can resize text boxes - a nightmare for web developers.
So the big question. Will anyone use it?
The fact is, most people just want to browse the web, and just use whatever browser they are given. If they haven't got any need to change they won't. FireFox probably has around a 20% market share at the moment (web stats are notoriously unreliable), but it's difficult to see how they could push their market share any further. Google, though, have an advantage. They also control sites that people actually want to use - search. YouTube, Gmail etc. If they can make using those with Chrome significantly better than with IE then maybe, just maybe, they might succeed.
We've just set up a couple of Twitter accounts for the University, one for news, and the other for internal announcements from myLearning Essentials and the intranet:
University News - http://twitter.com/newportuni
Internal News and Announcements - http://twitter.com/newport_mlenews
Both these take news from existing sources, the first from the front page of the University web site, and the other from the Intranet news, so it's not a new place you need to look, just a convenient way of getting noticed when news is updated if you happen to be a Twitter user.
No idea what Twitter is? It's a service that lets people communicate via short messages (or Tweets). It's sometimes known as Microblogging. The great thing about it is that there a whole range of ways to make and receive Tweets, including from the web, mobile phone, SMS, and desktop application (my preference). The way it works it that Twitter users 'follow' people or accounts (sounds a bit dodgy!), which means they receive that person or accounts Tweets.
This article from the Guardian is worth reading if you want to find out more: Making the most of Twitter .
I'm not expecting this to be a particular mainstream service, but it took very little effort to set up, and will hopefully be useful to a few people.
Here are some more University Twitter sites:
http://twitter.com/ManMetUni
http://twitter.com/KeeleUniversity
http://twitter.com/AstonUniversity
http://twitter.com/OpenUniversity
http://twitter.com/CoventryUni
http://twitter.com/CardiffUni
Not sure why it took me so long, but I've finally bought an iPhone!
In a previous post I noted how difficult I was finding it have work and fun mixed on one device (that was an iPod touch). I was very grateful for a comment from Kevin from Glamorgan who told me had the same issue, and had bought an iPhone for home and Blackberry for work. Suitably reassured I've gone down the same route, iPhone for non-work things, and I'll stick with my Windows Mobile HTC for work.
So initial thoughts? There are two aspects of the iPhone that I think are absolutely fantastic - the App Store, and the GPS/App/Flickr integration.
The App Store works like this. Anyone can buy the SDK for about £100 and start writing apps for it. The author submits it to Apple, who check it, and then add it to the store. Apple keep some of the money, and the author/developers get some. Applications are typically sold for small amounts of money (eg 59p for 'Shopping List', £5.99 for Super Monkey Ball). The great thing is, small developers can now compete on a completely level playing field with big companies, and actually have some chance of a revenue stream. It almost reminds me of the first days of computing, with the ZX Spectrum cottage industry. The big criticism is that Apple are acting as gatekeepers, but it really doesn't bother me. As a consumer I'm more than happy to have some quality control, and as a potential developer I've no issue with some sort of third party verification. I'm sure it won't be long before I buy the SDK.
Second thing, GPS/App/Flickr etc. This is just fun really, but it feels like something completely new. The iPhone has GPS, so it knows where you are. So, for example, you can then search Flickr (via a third party apps, some free, some £1.59!) and find pictures taken near you. Great for exploring new areas (you could then use Google Maps to find them). And obviously in true Web 2.0 style, you can take photos with the phone, Geotag them (ie add their location, again via GPS) and upload them to Flickr for other people to find. I know other phones have GPS as well, but it's all so elegant on the iPhone. I'm sure we are going to get more an more Apps that make use of GPS and user generated content.
News of our Newspace, our Ning sites for news students, has been picked up on a number of blogs around the community, so I thought it worth summarising the reaction, and giving a quick update.
First one is from Tony Hirst from the OUsefulInfo on OUwith a posting 'Institutional Social Networks' , which starts saying
"Reading the feed from Michael Webb's Blog yesterday, I was.... stunned is probably the best word, to read his post "Newspace - a social networking site for new students"
I'm not sure if that's good thing or not! Read Tony's post and decide for yourself.
Brian Kelly, UK Web Focus from UKOLN, picks it up on "Institutional Use of Ning", and says
"I welcome this development - and I am particularly pleased that Michael is being so open in describing the reasons for this decision, the possible risks and how the institution has responded to the risks."
Thanks for the positive feedback!
I also found posting about it on Lorcan Dempsey's Weblog and the tfpl blog , so I'm glad we are doing something of wider interested.
So a quick update.
Firstly, a quick thanks to a couple of my colleagues that did the hard work in getting it going - Allan Theophanides did all the hard work getting the site content together, including the Google maps and events, and, more importantly, getting the staff and mentors on board, and then organising the invitations to the students. If you want a site like this, it's crucial that someone takes this role, after all, a technically great site with no content and members is not much use! Secondly, to Jon Ingram, who sorted out the look of the site (it's based on an existing template, but Jon sorted out the logo, picture and CSS).
So how's it going? So far, really, really well - in a lot of ways it's turning out to be one of the most exciting projects I've been involved in. Feedback on the site is terrific, so far we've over 300 members (we're only a small institution, and have only invited two schools so far), and the quality and quantity of the communication is amazing! It's really working - students are using the site to make friends, share their excitement, create their own home pages, reassure one another and ask questions.
Obviously we won't know it's true value until the start of term, and maybe it's just initial enthusiasm, but, wow!
I'm also really glad we decided to make it a closed community. I'm sorry, that means that a lot of you won't see it, but I really don't think it would work if it was a more public space.
This post is really triggered by my iPod Touch, but really applies to most handhelds/smartphones etc I guess, especially the iPhone..
As I said in a previous post, I've put the new 2.0 software on, which does a couple of things. Firstly, you can get 'Push Email' from Microsoft Exchange, which means as soon as you receive an email it's pushed to your iPod which beeps, and secondly you can install lots of other applications. Most of these aren't really work type things (eg Last.FM), but some blur the boundary (Facebook is mix of work colleagues and friend-friends, Twitter is mostly works stuff).
Before I go on, it's worth saying I'm a bit of a music obsessive. I've heard a lot of people say they never go anywhere without their phone. I never go anywhere without my iPod (I've got a 30Gb Classic as well). Maybe if you don't listen to music as much as I do none of this matters.
I've ended up with a really odd mixture - as an iPod, something I'd listen to to relax, and now, perhaps with the Touch, get in touch with a few friends, but there, in the corner is an icon telling me I've 27 unread emails, nagging away. And then it beeps to tell me I've got another message. Now, I like my job, but sometimes I need a break from it, I need to recharge. And am I the only one that sometimes reads a work-related email over the weekend and then wishes I hadn't because you can't do anything about it until Monday, but it still gnaws away at you over the weekend. With web mail its fine, as I actively need to go and check it, but with the iPod, it's there, sat in the corner of the screen, hard to ignore.
How do Blackberry users cope? Is it less of an issue, because the Blackberry is really just for messaging? I've got an HTC Windows Mobile Smartphone, but I never switch Push email on - I just fetch it if I need to when I'm off site.
I ended up switching Push email off for the weekend.
I'll probably finish up using two iPods, my 'classic' for music, and the Touch as a work email device.
More Posts
Next page »