Delivered online using Adobe Connect and starting in June 2012, both programmes are supported by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and Department of Education and Skills which means the tuition fees normally associated with such programmes are waived.  CIT also notes that “we have been informed that successful applicants who currently receive either the Jobseeker’s Allowance or Jobseeker’s Benefit will continue to receive this payment.”

Click here for more information and sign up details.

As we are feeling misty eyed (for a moment or two), we would like to share some of that history with you. We were set up in 1987 to supply software to computer users, along with manuals and books on every aspect of computing & IT. Our first website and an online shop were added in 1995. Our areas of expertise grew over the years in response to technological developments and to customer demand, and we developed the range of competencies which has made us one of Ireland’s leading suppliers of software licensing and services.

Our first 25 years in business have been full of interest and incident. We witnessed the rise, fall & rise again of Apple & the late Steve Jobs. When we entered the industry Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect reigned supreme, only to be displaced within a few years by Microsoft Excel & Microsoft Word. In the nineties we sold thousands of books about the amazing growth of the internet, and in 2000 and 2001 we experienced the dotcom boom & bust: among the casualties were several of our own customers.

We have partnered with Microsoft since the early years of its rise to dominance, and forged strong and enduring relationships with other major software vendors like Adobe, Symantec & Embarcadero. We have enjoyed playing an active part in the challenging, demanding and ever-changing IT scene. We have no doubt that each successive wave of innovation will create even more astonishing new technologies in the future.

We look forward to the next quarter-century, ready for the challenges ahead, and hope that you, our loyal customers, will continue the journey with us.

Happy Birthday to Us!

Earlier this year Micromail was accredited with the coveted International Quality Standard (ISO 9001:2008) for its provision of software licensing solutions and Software Asset Management (SAM) services. The awarding body was the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI). ISO 9001:2008 is the latest version of ISO 9001 and is the internationally recognized standard for a Quality Management System which focuses on an organization’s actions to meet and continually improve customer satisfaction and quality requirements.

Micromail is celebrating 25 years in business this year and the investment in ISO 9001:2008 demonstrates our ongoing commitment to offer our customers the highest levels of service possible.

by Stephen Foley – Quality Manager

“To ensure customers have the opportunity to evaluate CS6, Adobe will extend an introductory offer to CS3 and CS4 customers for special upgrade pricing on CS6 until December 31, 2012. This will give CS3 and CS4 customers an upgrade path to CS6. Customers who remain on CS2 or earlier will not be eligible for upgrade pricing for CS6.”

Adobe have announced that CS6 will be launched in the first half of 2012 so all CS2 users should consider upgrading now while they are still within upgrade eligibility. There’s also a 15% upgrade promotion to CS5.5 running until March so there’s never been a better time to upgrade.

by Fionán Ó Cinnéide – Adobe Licensing Specialist

Given the enduring popularity of CS3 this will affect many  Creative Suite users; but there is some good news. Adobe are offering a 20% discount on all upgrades from CS2/3/4 until the end of 2011. So the onus is on the customer to upgrade now, or find themselves out of the upgrade loop and  facing high software refresh costs in the future.

Even the single applications like Photoshop, Dreamweaver etc. are entitled to this discount so I would highly recommend that this avenue is explored.

There have been some major changes to Creative Suite with each new version so it’s worth checking all the new features that will be available to you if you upgrade. You can explore this and all your upgrade options on Micromail’s dedicated CS upgrade site.

Fionan.

Included earlier versions (per product):

• Delphi – XE, 2010, 2009, 2007, 7
• C++Builder – XE, 2010, 2009, 2007, 6
• Delphi Prism XE
• RadPHP XE

How to access and download previous version?

• Install and register your XE2 product
• Go to a special web page http://www.embarcadero.com/xe2-earlier-versions
• Enter your XE2 serial number
• Get serial numbers and downloads for earlier versions

NB:You must request the licenses within 180 days of purchase

With many Apple designers having recently upgraded to Adobe CS5.5 they will want to know if there will be a smooth integration with the new O/S, and what bugs they will have to face.  Well the good news is that Adobe and Apple have worked closely on this launch and have tested that CS5 & CS5.5 run reliably on Lion.

CS3 & 4 have also been tested, and issues have been uncovered; click here for a full list of the emerging issues for CS3, 4 & 5

So for now there is no need to look for the latest Adobe patch- but if you do come across any bugs then please feel free to report to Adobe using the bug report form.

For CS2 customers some bad news- due to Apple’s withdrawal of Rosetta & PowerPC support CS2 will not work on Lion; the good news is that commercial and educational customers can still be upgraded to CS5.5 if they hurry; once CS6 is released then this upgrade option won’t be available.

Fionán Ó Cinnéide

Adobe Licensing Specialist

1.     You need a license for each physical CPU

2.     You also need a license for each vCPU

Exceptions & qualifications to the above for Enterprise Edition:

EE allows up to 4 VMs per licensed server, but this right is misleading as SPUR says:

ii)
You need one software license for each physical processor on a server, which permits you to run on that server, at any one time:

• one instance of the server software in one physical operating system environment (or OSE) , and
• four instances of the server software in virtual operating system environments (or OSEs).  You may run only one instance per virtual operating system
  environment (or OSE). You may run an instance of Standard in place of Enterprise in any of these virtual operating system environments (or OSEs).

But the SPUR also says:

i)     For each additional set of up to four instances of the server software that you run in virtual operating system environments (or OSEs), you need an additional software license for each physical processor on the server.

Roughly translated this means:

• On a server with a single CPU, one EE processor license allows 4 VMs (no vCPU count needed). On a server with 2 CPUs, two EE processor licenses allow 4 VMs (no vCPU  count needed)
• On a server with a single CPU, two EE processor licenses allow 8 VMs (no vCPU count needed). On a server with 2 CPUs four EE processor licenses allow 8 VMs (no vCPU count needed)

Note: Twisted thinking is required here. The number of allowed VMs (4) is not related to the number of processor licenses, which is why two CPUs do not amount to 8 VMs. The number of allowed VMs (4) is assigned to all the physical CPUs (licensed per proc) considered as the licensed server. To raise the VM allowance to 8 it’s necessary to double the license count per CPU. Best advice: in virtualized scenarios avoid Standard Edition, and only use Enterprise Edition when the case clearly warrants it.  For most virtualization scenarios use Datacenter Edition (see below)

Exceptions & qualifications to the above for Datacenter Edition:

License all physical CPUs on the virtualization host and run any number of Windows Server Editions (Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, Web) in virtual machines.

The SPUR says:

Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter and Windows Server 2008 R2 for Itanium Based Systems. You need one software license for each physical processor on a server, which permits you to run on that server, at any one time

1. one instance of the server software in one physical operating system environment (or OSE), and
2. any number of instances of the server software in virtual operating system environments (or OSEs) (only one instance per virtual operating system environment (or OSE)).

You may run on the licensed server an instance of Web, Standard or Enterprise in place of Datacenter in any operating system environment (or OSE).

At least this is simple and clear and is a major reason to use Datacenter in most SPLA virtualization scenarios.

Note: Unlike the specific rule in Volume Licensing, which says that Datacenter can only be licensed on servers with a minimum of two processors, Datacenter under SPLA can be licensed on a single processor (multicore) server. One CPU license allows unlimited VMs running any Windows Server Edition (hardware permitting).

Note: Running VMWARE ESX or vSphere on the virtualization host makes no difference to the Microsoft license requirement for Windows Server. Whether or not Hyper-V is running as the hypervisor, both host and VMs will need to be licensed under the rules above (unless of course only Linux is running in VMs )

The following advice is given by Microsoft:

• Be suspicious of unsolicited calls related to a security problem, even if they claim to represent a respected company.
• Never provide personal information, such as credit card or bank details, to an unsolicited caller.
• Do not go to a website, type anything into a computer, install software or follow any other instruction from someone who calls out of the blue.
• Take the caller’s information down and pass it to the authorities.
• Use up-to-date versions of Windows and application software.
• Make sure security updates are installed regularly.
• Use a strong password and change it regularly.
• Make sure the firewall is turned on and that antivirus software is installed and up to date.
• Microsoft Security Essentials is a free antivirus product and is available here.