Having an online presence is no longer such a big deal. With a few dollars a year you can get your own .com (or other top-level-domain) and another few dollars a month get you a hosting plan which provides you a couple megabytes for website storage and a number of email accounts. So with a small investment you can have a decent email like name.sourname@somedomain.com . That’s something that you could put on your personal business card. Few know that you can skip the email service offered by your webhost  and instead use a more reliable service.

Both Microsoft and Google offer domain email hosting as a free service. Microsoft calls this Windows Live Custom Domains ( https://domains.live.com/ ) while Google calls it’s service Google Apps ( http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/index.html )

Using these services is quite simple. You just have to prove that you are indeed the owner of the domain and make some DNS modifications so that emails will be handled by Google or Microsoft. Modifying the DNS records is a process that can be made using the web interface set up by your hosting provider (the one that hosts your DNS records) or by directly edition your DNS configuration in case you manage the DNS yourself. Either way both Microsoft and Google give you directions on how and what to modify.
For the tech savvy readers there are 2 basic steps: add a CNAME record containing a random string to prove that you are the rightful owner and then modify the MX records with the one provided in the instructions. It’s not that complicated.

Why should you do this?
Well both Microsoft and Google provide a better service than a normal hosting company when it comes to reliability. Sure, you don’t sign a contract that mentions any SLA but statistically speaking both offer a kick-ass service. You don’t have to worry about backups, downtime, spam and so on. It just works. For small operations, say personal email or small companies like startups , this kind of service is ideal as it cuts costs and/or gives less headaches.
Using the administration page you can create, delete or reset any email account. If someone messes up his/hers password you can simply reset the account. 
By using either the Microsoft based service or the Google one you get access to other related services like Office Online or Google Docs because the created email accounts serve as Live IDs or Google Accounts. This opens a new world of online collaboration. I know a few startups that use these kind of services.

What are the downsides?
You don’t own your email (carefully read the EULA’s ) and some may not like this.
You are limited to 50 or 100 email accounts and when you hit that limit you have to upgrade to a paid service. Individuals and small companies will just ignore this.
The web mail interface will display ads just as gmail.com or live.com. Adblocker type software could make this a non-issue.
You get little to no tech support. This can be neglected by individuals or small companies considering the advantages.

Access to the email account is made either by browser or by email client. Google Apps email can be accessed by POP3, IMAP and webmail. Unfortunately Windows Live Custom Domains does not offer access using the IMAP or POP3 protocols. To use Outlook you need to install a small piece of software called Office Outlook connector. The advantage of this approach is that besides email you can synchronize your address book and calendars. The IMAP and POP3 protocols don’t allow that. For Thunderbird + live you need a plugin but you get only basic service : get/send emails, no calendar .

With 9$ a year you could get a .com domain. You just need a public DNS server to host your records and that’s it, you can sign up for free email hosting.

Regarding DNS hosting, this is really not an issue. http://freedns.afraid.org/ is a very good option. If you don’t like it you could always ask your geek friend to help you out.

It’s hard to tell which service is best. Right now I’m using both Live Custom Domains and Google Apps and I’m quite happy with either one. It all depends on what you want to achieve.

After a year or more of using Goggle Apps I’m thinking of decommissioning all of my postfix installs (yes postfix is better than qmail) and switching to one of the above options. Having a full blown email server (even if it’s just a virtual machine with just enough resources serving many domains by means of sql and virtual domains) seems more and more a waste of time and resources for small operations.

I have a gut feeling that more and more companies will outsource the email service. I’ve seen this happening on a large scale in a few Universities in Romania.  The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies is using Google Apps to offer email accounts to all it’s students ( that’s more than 20.000 accounts!). Likewise there’s a small implementation of Live @EDU , a Microsoft programme that basically does the same thing, in the Faculty of Automatic Control and Computers at the POLITEHNICA University in Bucharest (that’s about 3000 accounts, give or take). 

• ASP.NET (dezvoltare web)
• MS SQL (baze de date)
• Windows Sockets (API de comunicare peste o retea de calculatoare)
• XNA (framework pentru dezvoltarea de jocuri).

Pagina de inscriere este: http://studentclub.ro/evenimente/DetaliiEveniment.aspx?ID=675

O observatie pentru studentii de la Automatica si Calculatoare, UPB: particparea la Summer Activities implica si primirea din partea Facultatii a adeverintei de practica de vara.

Prezentarea de Powershell e tinuta de subsemnatul. Daca te simti cu bashul pe caciula vino sa vezi ca se poate si altfel!

Pentru inregistrare :
http://studentclub.ro/evenimente/DetaliiEveniment.aspx?ID=655
si
http://studentclub.ro/evenimente/DetaliiEveniment.aspx?ID=656

PS: mai mult ca sigur ca pe 7 mai o sa vedem windows 7 RC1 in limba romana! Tocmai m-am inrolat in programul de beta testing!

Dear Imagine Cup IT Challenge competitor,

Congratulations! You are moving on to Round 2 of the IT Challenge! The competition was fierce, so be proud of your achievement! Now… it’s time to tackle the next step on the road to the Worldwide Finals in Cairo, Egypt in July 2009.

1 bucata Presenter 3000 – s-a facut muci adaptorul usb 100eu gone

1 bucata Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 – left click e facut praf. trebuie sa ma chinui sa apas pe un buton – 50eu gone

1 bucata Wireless Entertaiment Desktop 8000 – o tasta a sarit de pe tastatura. Dupa niste adeziv totul a revenit la normal. 300eu

Cu toate astea am doua Wheel Optical Mouse (alea vechi vechi) care merg ireprosabil.

Desigur exista un mic downside … pretul

http://www.nsoftware.com/powershell/server/

Cand dau reply in outlook implicit liniile originale sunt prefixate de caracterul > si iese o mare abureala pentru frazele lungi atunci cand e nevoie sa pui comentarii inline. Pentru problema asta exista o solutie sub forma unui macro : http://quotefix.flupp.de/ . Pentru cei ce folosesc outlook < 2007 sau outlook express exista chiar componente aditionale ce fac viata mai placuta : pentru outook si pentru outlook express.

Da da, stiu de mutt si pine. Get lost. A da si Evolution suge.

more to come

Facilitatile noi  sunt destul de consistente:

• imbunatariri majore in ceea ce priveste remotingul, peste 60 de cmdlets noi legate de : adaugarea,stergerea,mutarea unui computer, manevrarea logurilor,etc,
• avem un editor grafic putin imbunatatit si redenumit (in CTP2 ii spuneam Graphical Powershell acum il refeream ca ISE – integrated script editor) si acum cu suport pentru debuging (da se poate face debugining si fara echo!)
• API-ul de chemare a powershellului in o bucata de cod c# a fost putin schimbat si s-ar putea ca unii dezvoltatori sa strambe din nas

Imbunatatirile si adaugirile sunt mult mai multe si o sa ma luminez si eu pe masura ce se updateaza pagina de pe scriptcenter. Pana atunci download and enjoy!

PS: daca vreti functionalitatile de remote (care de fapt reprezinta cireasa CTP-ului asta e nevoie de o componenta suplimentara: WinRM 2.0 CTP3)

Ca tot veni vorba de powershell am dat recent peste un laborator online unde se poate experimenta cu powershell fara sa fie nevoie sa fie instalat pe pc-ul personal: aici

La multi ani si un an nou mai prosper si cu cat mai multe bucurii! Santate included!