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“As discussed in a recent article in a Network World story, you need to plan for the possibility that your cloud-storage vendor will shut down.”

The Cloud should never EVER be your replacement for mission critical data or anything else you value and do not want stolen. The Cloud should be treated as nothing more than an alternative storage method for data that if stolen and made accessible to any buyer or any government agency then you would not loose nay sleep or customers over.

The cloud is at its core, a honey pot created by big time players to suck up and consume data of every individual and business willing to buy into its trap. It may not be this way at first, you may have your data/privacy respected at first but make no mistake about it; the cloud is a means to an end. That end being the transfer of all info from the individual user/business/entity to control of the few. There may be many cloud providers now but that will change as the big players force out of business and or buy out the smaller to mid-size players until the few cloud providers left end up being partners and this have no true competition. Google was founded with investment funding from IN-Q-Tel, a CIA owned venture capital firm that invests in future business that it can then tap into later on just as it has done with google which maintains valuable search data on most of us. You can say that’s crazy conspiracy theory but its already been proven that Google provides access to the CIA to our info. It matters not how much Google claims publicly to not like this.

The cloud is the next big information theft trap created by a partnership between government and big business that plans to profit by providing government our data. If you think for one second that any cloud provider is going to fight to protect your data like you would you are mistaken. And even if there ends up being a few cloud provid4erts willing to do this you can bet they will not last long. They will either be shutdown, bought out or worse.

The cloud is the means for moving the valuable data of the many into the control of the powerful few.

This is quite possibly the best and most honest reporting on Microsoft from any source I have ever read and that includes the pieces from Mary Joe Foley who frequently provides inside looks at Microsoft.

I have to point out your comment about the Ribbon fiasco. I feel vindicated now for I am one of many who frequently had to listen to (or read about) negative replies to any and all comments made about the Ribbon that were negative in any way. From the first day I saw the Ribbon I called it a fiasco. Jump ahead to several years later and the Ribbon is now being accurately labeled a fiasco. The problem with the Ribbon is just like the problem with Windows 8. Its not that the interface is bad but that the attitude behind forcing it on existing users regardless of whether they want it or not simply because Microsoft knows better (then we the user) what the user needs. That level of arrogance is hard to beat.

Thanks Woody!

I mean no disrespect [to Woody] but how many years or Windows versions will it take before we read about how METRO APPS must be replaced immediately with feature X in the upcoming new release of WINDOWS because feature X is finally that tech we’ve been waiting for, the secure and easy to use tech that will make all our dreams come true and keep us safe and secure forever?

I’m not being critical of the whole software upgrade cycle nor am I implying that Gadgets are unsafe or that Windows Metro APPs aren’t safe. What I am saying is that each time a new upgrade comes along the sales pitch used for feature X in said upgrade is that it is the tech that we’ve been waiting on since the dawn of the PC/software. Unlike everything before it, feature X tech is safe, secure and easy to use [unlike its predecessors].

It would be far more honest and less insulting if the vendor were more honest about whole thing and sold feature X as the more secure and or better solution currently and not as that magically thing we’ve been waiting on all our lives. I do understand why the software vendor (Microsoft in this case) pushes it this way but I don’t understand why so many outside critics seem to go along with repeating the marketing sales pitch.

The issue with the Ribbon isn’t so much whether or not it’s a better interface then the traditional menu & toolbars because for most users new to Office the ribbon does work better. The real issue is Microsoft’s attitude and its handling of the aftermath that is known as the Ribbon fiasco.

Once Window’s 7 was a definite release Microsoft finally admitted that it dropped the ball with Windows Vista. Up until then though the official MS response was that vista was a success even though the rest of the world knew this was BS of unimaginable proportions. Doing this with Vista, Microsoft set the tone for how it would continually deny failures in the future; at least until the failures replacement was close to release. The problem with the Ribbon is that there is no planned replacement. Microsoft sold the farm betting on the Ribbon and so now it can’t admit anything but “Major Success” when it comes to the ribbon.

It matters not how many users are unhappy with the Ribbon and how it was forced on them, Microsoft will continue to deny there was ever any issue with the Ribbons rollout in Office 2007. And that is why so many of us who have been using Office long before 2007 are irritated.

See: Beginner’s Guide to ODBC

Also see these: SQL Server Links

Boyd Trimmell aka HiTechCoach
Microsoft MVP – Access Expert

I take it that Access even as of Access2010 is unable to use ADO? I’d love to find a way to avoid ODBC and DSN’s al together. I did see the link about a DSN-Less setup but it still uses ODBC I think.

Thanks

I’d like to re-word what you;ve said to make sure I understand correctly.

The best way to handle this would be to gerenate an ODBC Data SOurce (a DSN I assume) on a system that conatins a copy of the ACCESS DB (The Frong End piece of it) and that has access to connect to the SQL Server instalce where the DB is that store the tables the Access front end wants to link to.

Go thru the External Data tab selecting the ODBC data souce and then relinking the tables.

Save the Access DB file.

Close Access.

Distribute the DSN I create don my system to others that will use this Access DB front end.

That about sum it up? Assuming yes then the question is what type of DSN to use, file, user, or does it matter?

Also, does the DSN info used in the Access DB stick with the Acess file? In otherwords after doing all of the relinking of the tables and saving teh ACcess database file, if I then copy that Access file to another system and load it in Access on that system will it automatically try to use the same DSN that was used on the prior system? Does this new system even need a copy of the DSN?

Thanks

Thanks, that did it.

The best way around it is to not use Selection, but to create a variable of the appropriate type and set the selection to that variable, then you can use that variable with intellisense…

Steve

WIthin the immedaite window? Woudln;t doing that require adding/inserting a module?

Thanks guys for the feedback. You confirmed what I suspected but I was hoping I was wrong. I don’t have the VBA-Excel model memorised and so I rely heavy on intellisense.

It would be nice if the intellisense,. when it ran into this kind of issue would popup still and let you select what obect ype you want and then go from there.

You might try this:
– Start another Office application such as Word, PowerPoint or Outlook.
– Press Alt+F11 to activate the Visual Basic Editor.
– Press Ctrl+G to activate the Immediate window.
– Type the following, then press Enter:

GetObject(, “Excel.Application”).Visible = True

This might make the hidden instance of Excel visible. It may not work, though, if the Automation code “hangs”.

Thanks Hans. Have you (or anyone else reading this post) ever heard of someone being able to do something like this with Excel 2003?

I’d create an add-in and make it available on the network. See Jan Karel Pieterse’s series of articles starting at Create Addins.

Yeah I thought about the Add-In route but it seems like Excel 2007 is so locked down that using Add-Ins is now a lot more involved/complicated

I am not sure exactly the setup you have, but why not put a formula in the bottom row that sums up the values like you want. Then you can compare the values from this formula to the hard-coded values and know at least what columns are off…

Steve

I’m not trying to change the Total at the bottom to match the sum of X cells above but to locate which combination of cells above are equal to the value in the total at the bottom and the combination of those cells could be any where from 2 to 999 cells as they are at least 999 rows above and 1 or more of each could be equal to what I have. Trying to find the right combination is the hard part when dealing with som many variations.

joeperez,

Actually I am intersted in looking at RS however it would need to be on SQL Server 2005 as we don’t have 2008 implemented and probably will noty for a while. I do have the CLient Tools ofr SQL 2008 though. I love the Activity Monitor in SSMS 2008 and would loooovvvee to find a way to duplicate it & create my own custom version that would query these custom views but I’ve not had much luck in finding out how to create your own custom Activity Monitor report for MSRS; any suggestions?

Thanks

Thanks John, thats exactly what I needed!

Ed

With so many sharing a love for PD and an agreement in the lack of equivelant funcctionality in WIndows even as of now I thought I’d chime in with an idea.

What about an open source reaplcement to Windows Explorer?

As much as PD is liked it too is lacking something I’ve been desiring for a long time and was hoping to finally see in Windows Vista, file/folder meta-data. Vista orginally was supposed to use the new file system which to my understanding was going to allow this. For whatever reason it was pulled (I think to meet deadlines). Several ‘Type’ specific files like the media files (audio & video) have methods for ‘tagging’ them with kewords or ‘tags’ to catergorize them. While ins ome case the tagging is standardized (ie IDV3 for mp3), there is no general all puprpose across all file types meta data in Windows.

Searches would be far better if it were possible to tag files & even folders and include in a search that tag info. I’ve searcched and seen a few third-party products that look like they attempt this but they are either pricey or seem to be to vertical (market wise). I’dl like to see an open source file manager to replace Windows Explorer.

Thoughts?

Ed C