Care in the Community

The Windows Vista upgrade path is looking a bit steep for some, going by the comments we've seen. Take Wolfie78, for instance, who posted a Talkback to say that his company won't be touching Vista yet because of compatibility issues. And our feature on the Top 10 Windows Vista annoyances generated some pointed criticism of the Microsoft OS.

I'm sure that there are many IT pros out there grappling with how and when to move up to Vista--and dealing with people inside their organization who see the shift as a good time to make other changes. Sound familiar? You're probably not alone.

That's why we've set up a new kind of blog--a group blog--for people to share their hands-on observations and experiences. Collectively, your contributions to the Vista Upgrade Blog will add up to a pool of knowledge for the benefit of everyone. IT folk are busy people. But if you put in a little--the occasional post--then we'll end up with a lot.

Right now, you have to be a ZDNet member to get permission to post to the Vista Upgrade Blog. If you're interested in contributing, send

Security pros are expected to head off tomorrow for Olympia in London for the Information Security 2007 trade show. As usual, ZDNet will be doing a whole lot of coverage--stories, video, news blogs. This time, we'd like to add the feedback of ZDNet members to the mix--after all, you are the folks who grapple with security problems and products in the real world.

We've set up a group blog called Sentry Posts that will feature contributions from ZDNet staff and members alike. It'll be highlighted in our InfoSec special coverage, but it's a separate entity with a life of its own that will live on after the show has ended. We've set it up as place where you can share your observations and experiences of security management tech.

We're pretty excited about these group blogs, which are just getting going. It's a big step in making it simple for you to exchange thoughts and ideas with like-minded members and with the edit team. Collectively, we all benefit: You share a little, you get back a lot.

At the moment, we have to manually give permission to blog to Sentry Posts. If you want to take part, drop me an internal message with a request to be added. Then you'll be able to get posting with your photos, your take on the keynotes, your vote for the best products on the show floor...

Inspired by end-of-week lethargy, and despite the suspicion of it being a bit ungreen, I thought I'd have a shot this morning at catching one of those free Microsoft cabs. Notting Hill Gate seemed a likely enough spot--inside Zones 1 and 2, nice busy road--so I found a pavement spot with a clear view both ways and got ready to ride.

Reader, I waited in vain. Plenty of other black cabs rolled by looking for fares--but none with the 2007 Microsoft Office brand. I passed the time counting taxis with Mamma Mia ads, imagining what kind of patter the cabbies would have ("Had that Steve Ballmer in the back once..."), and wondering whether Microsoft would cover the tip.

After half an hour, I gave up and got the Tube. Probably not long enough to be fair, but by then I'd come to the conclusion that the free cabs were probably all circling the City. I'll give it another go in different parts of London over the next couple of weeks.

But it would be great to hear if anyone else has spotted these cabs. Tell us if you have--and if you've got documentary evidence (a photo?) that would be even better.

Not that we want to drive you to drink or anything, but we've got an offer for new members that might pop your cork.

Anyone who signs up with ZDNet UK will get a £20 voucher off their first order of a case of wine from Virgin Wines. You'll see the voucher code once you've confirmed your registration, and can get shopping for merlot, chardonnay or a spot of the bubbly right away.

Of course, we're not leaving out our old-timers. Existing members can get a code for the same offer by sending me a request via ZDNet Community's messaging system. (Click on Mail in your profile, then on Compose and send to Karen Friar.) I'll be taking requests for a couple of weeks only, so don't hang about.

All this wine chat reminds me of a Californian white whose name was "Critique of Pure Riesling". No connection to the offer--just another thing to drink to forget. Bottoms up.

Roberto Maietta has posted an interesting Talkback outlining what he sees as the pitfalls of virtualisation .

"I look at this in terms of security updates, in fact any kind of updates, and it makes me shudder," he writes. "If you had a citrix farm with 10 servers for 500 clients, who were running a wise terminal, then you only have to patch a small number of devices. This is the benefit of a centralised computing model.

"On the other hand, when you introduce virtual computing, every business department wants to have a host for every application, and you typically end up with a huge number of devices that need to be patched."

But member Arthur B. counters that a Citrix setup, like virtualisation, goes against the guiding principle of KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). With workers bringing in PDAs, laptops, etc., it's rare to find such a setup that links to dumb terminals only.

It looks like IT managers are still working out if there are real-world benefits to virtualisation, and another case where mobile working could call for creative thinking.