Mark Minasi's Short (75-90 Minute) Talks(Suitable only for conference/meeting organizers who want their attendees to learn, enjoy themselves, and demand to return for the next conference!) |
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Mark Minasi has entertained and informed tens of thousands over the years, which is one reason why he's so much in demand as a conference speaker. Following are the talks that he does most often. These talks generally run best as 75 minute - 90 minute presentations, but can be lengthened or shortened. If you'd like to see a brief demo of Mark in action, take a look at the promo tape for his The Software Conspiracy talk here. Over the years, Mark has developed and given many different talks, so many in fact that the list of topics was getting a bit out of hand. As a result, we've rebuilt this page as an extremely shortened list of his talks, including only the recent Windows talks and the Software Conspiracy talk. In case you're looking for the older page, it's here. Here are a few comments on Mark's short talks from a conference in mid-2010: "Mark Minasi is an excellent speaker. I mean, really, who else can talk about
Kerberos and make it interesting??" These short sessions, many of which are taken from Mark's many popular two-day seminars, deliver useful information and skills on technical and planning aspects of Windows' server and desktop operating systems, and, of course, they're delivered in Mark's trademark brand of humor and insight. Contact our assistant to schedule a talk for your meeting or conference at that e-mail link or call (757) 426-1431 between 12 Noon - 5 PM Eastern time, Monday-Friday. Thanks! |
Featured Keynote Talk: "The Windows 7/R2 Report Card: What They Got Right, What Got Left Out" |
| Well, Windows 7 and Windows Server 20008 R2 are finally here, so it's time again to ask: is it time to upgrade? Vista didn't entice many to leave XP behind, and Server 2008 can't be found in most IT shops, so are Win 7 and R2 good enough to make you leave behind XP and Server 2003 or, for some Vista and Server 2008? Join veteran Windows watcher Mark Minasi in a fun, insightful look at what's good, what's bad, what's missing and what's just plain incomprehensible about Microsoft's latest OS offerings. |
Mark's "Content-Free, Entertainment-Rich Keynote" — "How To Succeed In The Computer Business" |
The rest of Mark's talks focus on technical topics and intend to educate and inform their audience; if they happen to be entertaining as well, then that's of course important — it keeps the audience awake — but getting laughs isn't normally the main focus of Mark's talks. But in the past few years, clients have sometimes approached us about doing a short 45-70 minute keynote that contained no content at all, just a bit of "Minasi unplugged:" jokes, stories, and offbeat observations from someone with nearly 30 years in the business but who's managed to avoid becoming "assimilated." Mark agreed to try, and the results have been ... well ... really happy audiences, including one recent attendee who complained that he laughed so hard his face hurt. So if you need a way to get your conference moving with a laugh, then call us about "How To Succeed In The Computer Business." Learn the secrets of choosing the right "beta" names, how to create demand for your product even if your company doesn't make any products, as well as the secret of the Next Big Thing in networking. |
Windows Technical Talks |
| This talks are more in-depth than Mark's keynote talks (although many folks chose to run the Windows overview talks as technical talks). |
Night of the Living Directory: Understanding the Windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory Recycle Bin |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 brought a number of nice changes to Active Directory, but the number one crowd pleaser had to be the Active Directory Recycle Bin, a useful tool for undeleting Active Directory objects that have been deleted, so to speak, "before their time." Powerful and useful as the Recycle Bin is, however, there is more to it than a bit of clicking and dragging, as there is no Recycle Bin GUI built into R2 -- the only in-the-box way to make use of the Recycle Bin is a set of PowerShell commands. (There ARE third-party GUIs for the Recycle Bin, though, as you'll learn in this talk.) How long can something stay "dead" before it can't be revived? Must we reboot our domain controllers to un-delete things? Is there a way in an R2 domain to delete something and ensure that it CAN'T be revived? Find out in this fast-paced, comprehensive look at the new Active Directory Recycle Bin, presented by Mark Minasi, author of some of the best-selling books on Active Directory around! |
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Automating Your AD: Operate and Document Your Domain More Easily, Automatically and Repeatably With Windows' Free Tools |
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Still administering your AD the click-and-drag way? For most AD
admins, the answer is sadly "yes," and often for the same reason:
busy AD admins just don't get the time to learn how to use the many free
AD automation tools built right into Windows... until now. Join
Mark Minasi, AD expert and author of over 150 installments of the
popular "Windows Power Tools" and "This Old Resource Kit" columns, in a
clear, example-filled explanation of some of the best in-the-box Active
Directory automation tools. First, you'll learn bulk account
creation with CSVDE and LDIFDE. Then we'll take a quick peek under
the hood of AD's structure with ADSIEdit to enable us to speak a bit of
"LDAP-ese," a skill we'll need to take the next step and start
benefiting from 2008 R2's 76 new Active Directory-oriented cmdlets.
With these new cmdlets, you can often convert a task that once required
a few hundred clicks -- or two days of VBScripting -- into just a few
commands. What's that you say, you don't have 2008 R2? No
problem; Mark will show you how you can get the PowerShell tools running
on any 2003-based AD. Or perhaps you don't know PowerShell
yet? No need to worry, as this talk tosses in enough PowerShell
basics to enable anyone comfortable with Active Directory to get
productive with the AD PoSH cmdlets in no time. We guarantee that
every attendee will scratch his or her head and say, "hey, I could use
that!" at least once in this talk! |
DNSSEC and Windows: Get Ready, 'Cause Here it Comes! |
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Question: when is your bank's Web site NOT your bank's Web site?
Answer: after some criminal hijacks your bank's DNS domain, fooling you and other bank customers into divulging your usernames and passwords to that criminal's Web server. (And anti-phishing software can't help here!) DNS was long considered to be the safe, secure bedrock of the Internet. In the past few years, however, an age-old, fundamental set of DNS vulnerabilities have led to attack approaches like the online banking theft scenario (which, by the way, is not simply a fantasy -- a proof-of-concept attack of its type unfortunately worked quite well). What to do? The answer among most Internet infrastructure experts is to implement a series of DNS extensions collectively called "DNSSEC," a technology first proposed in 1997. Despite DNSSEC's age, you've probably either never heard of it or never had a reason to care much... but that's all changing. Since 2009, DNSSEC implementation has kicked into high gear. Many important top-level domains like .gov, .org and much of the root zone are now on board with DNSSEC, with .com and .net compliance soon to follow. The good news, then, is that DNSSEC's finally getting some traction and so the bad guys' opportunity to seize control of DNS is being steadily eradicated. The bad news is that unless your Windows client and server software understand DNSSEC, then you and your users sadly get no protection from DNSSEC at all. In order to play in (and benefit from) this secure new world, you need to understand how to configure and maintain DNSSEC-smart systems. Join uber-DNS-geek Mark Minasi in a look at what exact problem DNSSEC tries to solve, how it does it, and how Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 implement that solution. DNSSEC is one of the foremost "gotta learn it" technologies of the next couple of years even if you DON'T plan to sign your zone, so don't miss this talk from the only guy who can explain DNS things and still keep you awake! |
IPv6 for the Reluctant: What To Know Before You Turn It Off |
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"IPv6 is never gonna happen," right? For good or ill, that's not true.
At our current rate -- assuming no growth in demand for IPv4 addresses
-- we will exhaust IPv4 addresses by the end of 2012. That's right...
by New Years 2013, there won't be an IPv4 address to be had for love or
money. (And IPv6 is an essential part of Windows Server 2008 R2's nifty DirectAccess "invisible VPN... but that's a story for another day.) We get IPv6 in-the-box with Vista, Windows 7 and Server 2008 and 2008 R2. Your first reaction when you see an IPv6 address like "fe80::5efe:10.50.50.112" might be: "Hmmm... that’s a lotta colons, and I KNOW what comes out of colons!" But is that the RIGHT reaction? Join veteran Windows explainer Mark Minasi in a look at the latest version of IPv6… and whether you’ll want to leave it on or turn it off. In this whirlwind tour, Mark explains the motivation for IPv6 and the technologies behind its implementation (which saves you from having to read 30 RFCs), adding useful notes on the Microsoft-specific aspects of Windows' IPv6 implementation. Attendees to Microsoft's Management Summit (MMS) 2010 ranked this talk #1 above 130 other talks... come attend and see why! |
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Ten (Or More) Things You Probably Don't Know about Windows Server 2008 R2 |
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Okay, so maybe you've read about or even played around with Windows Server 2008 R2. You know a bit about Active Directory's PowerShell cmdlets, DirectAccess, BranchCache and the new backup program. It's all great stuff, but... did you know that R2's the first print server whose spooler service WON'T crash just because a print driver failed? Or that R2's DHCP server service has a cool new MAC filter feature, combined with helpful new support for split scopes? Well, that's just the start. Ever needed to resize a VHD? R2's got command-line support for that, as well as a whole new kind of built-in SMB cache. And of course you know that R2 shores up your system's security by blocking those scary old 1980s LM-type logons -- but did you know that R2's got the tool that you need to smoke out and stomp those persistent early 90s NTLM logons? Join server geek Mark Minasi in a fast-paced review of all of the R2 features that haven't really gotten the attention that he thinks that they ought to, complete with demos and step-by-step instructions to try them out in your own network. Hey, what would be crazier than paying for a new server operating system and not squeezing all of the juice out of it? |
Windows Logons Revealed |
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Every day we log into our Windows systems. But what really happens when we do?
How DO our workstations and our domain controllers exchange logon information
without
revealing our passwords? For that matter, how are our workstations able to find
DCs even on days when the local DC's sick? Let veteran Windows explicator Mark
Minasi
show you how logins work, how they can not work (and how you can fix them) as
well
as how to better secure them -- as well as giving you the tools to understand
where
Microsoft's login protocols are and aren't so secure. Once you're done,
terms like "ticket-granting service" and "service principal name"
will be clear as a bell!
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Cracking Open Kerberos: Understanding How AD Knows Who You Are |
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When used for simple authentication, then Active Directory's
authenticator-of-choice Kerberos is trouble-free: set up an AD,
Kerberos just works and that's it. But start to add AD-aware servers
and services, or try to understand how a read-only domain controller
differs from a full DC, and all of sudden there's a LOT to know --
and ticket granting tickets, pre-authenticators, and session keys
are just the start, as anyone who's attended security techie Mark
Minasi's highly-rated "Windows Logins Revealed" in previous TechEds
knows. But what's this about "delegation," or, in Server 2008,
"CONSTRAINED delegation" -- is it only permissible between
consenting adults? And what's an "SPN," the thing that the
invaluable "setspn" utility assists with? Once past that, you may
find that some of your users seem to be logged onto AD but aren't
really, due to the frightening-sounding "token bloat." What's all of
this (it's good news, really), and what can it do for (or to) you?
Find out when Mark resumes the mantle of Revealer of Windows Logons,
explaining all this -- and more -- while keeping that trademark
Minasi energy and humor. |
Can Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 help secure your network better – and what will it cost? |
| A look at the list of Windows 7's seven premier "big" new features (VHDs, the UI changes, libraries, BranchCache, DirectAccess, AppLocker, Bitlocker To Go) will reveal that three out of that seven (the last three) are security-related items. In this talk, Windows security consultant and writer of the world's best-selling Vista security book Mark Minasi puts these and other Win7 and Server 2008 R2-related security features under the microscope, explaining the good, the bad, the inexpensive and the pricey. |
How Windows 7/R2 Change Windows Storage... Can You Say "VHD?" |
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Load Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2 on a system, and you'll notice
something sorta strange: there's no boot record or BCD folder. Look at
other Win7/R2 systems, and you may notice something even stranger:
there's only one file on the hard disk, and yet you can boot the system
and run a normal Windows system. What's going on here? Simple: Windows 7
gets a lot of press for its faster-than-Vista performance and newer user
interface, but there's a lot more to it also, including native support
of VHD files (that's how a one-file system boots) as well as a new
default disk structure, support of direct-to-disk ISO burning, and more.
Whether you're going to Windows 7 sometime soon or five years from now,
you'll want to be prepared for the changes that Win 7 brings to storage
-- and who better to prepare you than veteran Windows explainer Mark
Minasi? Join Mark for this quick look at what's new in Win 7/R2 storage! |
What Server 2008 R2 Does for Your Active Directory |
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Windows Server 2008 R2 here, and that means new tools for directory
service IT pros. For the occasional admin, Active Directory Users and
Computers is still around, but now it's got a task-oriented sibling, the
"Administrative Center for Active Directory (ACAD)." What's that, you're
not a GUI fan? Then you'll smile when you learn that under the hood,
ACAD just kicks off command-line PowerShell commands to get its work
done, which brings us to 2008 R2's premier AD advance -- more than 70
PowerShell cmdlets. That might well be enough to justify an "R2" upgrade, but there's more: an "AD recycle bin" that lets you undelete things that were, um, accidentally eliminated. A centralized, secured way to create and manage service accounts. ADLDS (what was once called ADAM) as well as AD both get new functional modes, and R2 supports "offline domain joins. For the details, don't miss this fast-paced, entertaining presentation from Mark Minasi, author of the world's best-selling books on Active Directory! |
Name Resolution 2008 Style: DNS, WINS, and NetBIOS in Vista and Later |
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Soon we'll have "NT Server 6.1" -- Vista's big brother, also known as
Server 2007, 2008, or Longhorn. And with that comes improvements in,
well, just about everything, including one of Windows' most important
pieces of plumbing -- name resolution. Yes, you've heard it before, but
with Longhorn, it looks as though WINS may really, finally, actually...
die. Or not; we'll see. Besides the changes to WINS, the big name resolution story is, of course, DNS. What's new in 2007/8 DNS? And, better, what small features of 2003's DNS might you be missing out on? Come to this session with The Master of Name Resolution, popular speaker and writer Mark Minasi, to find out! |
DCs Get Better: 2008's New DCPROMO, Read-Only DCs and More |
| 2003's Active Directory is pretty good, but, honestly, it could be better. Branch office DCs are a real pain both from a security and a bandwidth point of view. But Longhorn Server/Server 2007 offers some relief with the concept of a "read-only domain controller" that flexes Kerberos' muscles in a way that Windows hasn't really before. You'll get the ability to dial in exactly which user accounts are stored on a branch office DC, as well as new encryption options to make it theft-proof. But that's not all -- DCPROMO gets a facelift and, well, it needed it. Find out about this and other upcoming Longhorn domain controller and AD improvements with bestselling author Mark Minasi! |
Cracking the DaVista Code: the Best Things You're Not Using in Vista |
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So you got yourself some powerful PCs and you put Vista on your desktop.
Pretty neat, eh? But it might be neater, you know. After all, Vista's basically a complete re-write of Windows. So while everyone's focused on Aero Glass or Previous Versions, it's easy to miss some of the not-so-obvious but useful things in the latest version of Windows -- things like takeown, icacls, or Vista's ability to resize already-formatted partitions without having to reformat them, to name just a few. Join Mark Minasi, author of Administering Vista Administration: the Big Surprises and Mastering Vista Business, in his quest to squeeze the last bit of neat new functionality out of Vista, while perhaps getting a few laughs in the process! |
Windows Power Tools: Administration at “C:\>” Level |
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Still doing administration from the GUI? Well, that works, of course –
but while GUIs are nice for now-and-then tasks, you can get a lot more
done from the command line and, even better, you can stuff your favorite
command lines into Notepad to create the world’s simplest administration
tool. The hard part, of course, is getting started – and who better to help you than Mark Minasi, whose “This Old Resource Kit” and “Windows Power Tools” columns have discovered and explained the best Microsoft command-line administrations tools for the past eight years. While the “altitude” – that is, high-level nature – of GUIs are nice, really getting the job in the least amount of time needs a more down-to-earth, “C:\>-level” approach. Join Mark and see how to run "command" Windows to do your bidding! |
Uncovering Service Pack Gold: The Best Stuff You're Still Not Using in XP SP2, 2003 SP1, and R2 |
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(The talk that scored in the top ten of TechEd 2006's 450 sessions!) The SP Twins -- XP's Service Pack 2 and 2003 Server's Service Pack 1, as well as that giant service pack called "R2" -- have been out for quite a while, and most of us have deployed them for their fixes and greater security. But are you using EVERYTHING that SP1/SP2 offer? Well, unless "access-based enumeration," "IPsec bypass,""auditusr.exe,""binary behaviors" and "mime sniffing" have a place in your security vocabulary, then perhaps you're not getting the most out of your service packs! This session provides the step-by-step ways to squeeze all of the security juice out of the SPs, including clear and complete explanations of how to hide folders from unauthorized users, per-user auditing via AUDITUSR, how to create an ActiveX whitelist or blacklist for Internet Explorer, how to use Windows Firewall in combination with IPsec bypass to fine-tune access to a set of servers... and a lot more. Attend this session and you will immediately learn how to secure your systems better... for free. |
The Accidental DBA's Guide: Mastering MSDE and SQL Server 2005 Express, Microsoft's "Mandatory" Databases |
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Microsoft has released tons of free network management utilities over the years.
But recently they've all had one thing in common: they need a real-live SQL Server to run.
And unless you want to shell out a few kilobucks for SQL Server 2000 or 2005, then
you're going to be
using the Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) or its successor SQL Server
2005 Express Edition (SSX). They're just like SQL
Server... except that
they don't have any GUI administration tools. In this comprehensive talk, Mark
solves the plight of
the "accidental DBA" with a top-to-bottom look at what MSDE/SSX are, how to install
then, how to secure
them and run them, including 25 "cookbooks" to solve common problems
and perform basic maintenance. SQL administration's not just for
DBAs any more, so who better to make it easy than master elucidator
Mark Minasi?
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Cracking Open The Post Office: SMTP Server A to Z |
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The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is the engine that makes
Internet e-mail run -- send mail to anybody@anywhere.com and it's
SMTP that does most of the heavy lifting. That's why NT 4, Windows
2000, XP and 2003 have all included a fairly powerful IIS SMTP
service. As a matter of fact, it's the tool that Exchange uses to
handle your Internet e-mail.
As with any powerful tool, IIS's SMTP service isn't always simple to configure. In this session, NT veteran and champion explainer-of-the-obscure Mark Minasi uncovers the SMTP service. Attend this entertaining, fast-paced talk and you'll learn how to put SMTP Server to work as a "smart host" protecting your Exchange server from the hostile Internet. Or just use it as a free-of-charge backup Internet e-mail server for those times when your main e-mail server is offline or unavailable. You'll see how to diagnose and troubleshoot undelivered Internet e-mail. You'll know how to secure your SMTP server against spammers, denial of service attacks and other threats while at the same time ensuring availability to your internal and traveling users. (Do you know how EXACTLY which services you can turn off and still have SP1's IIS 6.0 SMTP Server work? This session will show you.) You'll find out how to use SMTP Server to host multiple e-mail domains and of course you'll learn everything you could ever need to know about relaying -- that there's "good relaying" and "bad relaying," what it really means, what problems it presents and how to solve them. You'll uncover how the Pickup, Drop, Queue and BadMail folders, the event logs and SMTP logs interact to help you diagnose undelivered messages. Finally, you'll get a look at the extensive event scripting capabilities of SMTP Server. |
The Art Of Network Troubleshooting: How To Fix Any Network Problem |
Network software and hardware comes and goes, protocols grow and change, and what we do with networks expands all of the time, but one thing doesn't change: how often we use the words "network" and "not work" in the same sentence. One day we'll just plug it all in and it'll just work, but for now, "to network is to troubleshoot." In this talk, veteran networking consultant, teacher and writer Mark Minasi shares the twelve immutable laws of troubleshooting any network problem. Zen archers are reputed to be able to hit a target blindfolded; with this talk, you can become a Zen network troubleshooter and fix network problems with both hands tied behind your back! |
Securing Your Microsoft Network: A Dozen Tips |
| Let's be clear: designing and implementing a good security takes time and money, and it's a pretty good idea to invest that time and money. But if you've short on time then this session is the next best thing. In just a few minutes, you'll learn a bunch of short tips which don't take much time to implement and that can shore up your system's security. Windows 2000 and 2003 (and even NT 4) include a ton of security features — but unfortunately they don't enable them by default. Join network geek and writer Mark Minasi in a series of quick and dirty suggestions that'll help you caulk over some of those security holes! |
Practical Active Directory Troubleshooting: Causes and Solutions |
| AD's pretty reliable -- quite reliable, in fact -- sometimes things go wrong anyway. Domain controllers can get disconnected from other DCs, leading to replication problems and group policy failures. DNS can get stupid, leading to... well, leading to a wide variety of troubles. Administrators can be distracted while changing something in AD, laying waste to entire sections of AD -- and creating a need for fast repair. And even IF none of those things happen, Active Directory is just a database, and even the best database needs a bit of database administration. Join battle-scarred AD veteran Mark Minasi in an examination of what can go wrong with AD, what to do about it, and maybe even have a few laughs in the process. |
Tuning and Monitoring XP, 2000, and Server 2003 |
| Microsoft says that 2000, XP and .NET are "self-tuning" and in fact it's true that they require less tweaking than some of the competition. But there are some very important things to watch in order to keep your servers and workstations in peak condition and to squeeze the most power out of your OS. In this session, Windows techie Mark Minasi shows you which Performance Monitor counters to watch and what to do to maximize your PC's performance, whether the PC's on your desk on in a rack. |
Troubleshooting DNS In an Active Directory World |
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Your Active Directory's acting up, but where to look to find the trouble
-- Active Directory Users And Computers? Sites and Services? Domains and
Trusts? Nope, in most cases the problem lies in DNS. DNS failures can
lead to logon problems, group policy mysteries, and more -- as you'll
learn in this nuts-and-bolts session. You can't be a black belt AD troubleshooter (or even a green belt AD troubleshooter) without an in-depth knowledge of how to make DNS work FOR AD, not AGAINST it. In this session, Windows networking techie Mark Minasi and author of the million-selling Mastering Windows Server series reveals the most common DNS problems and puzzles -- "who IS that prisoner.iana.org guy in my event log, anyway?" -- and how to solve them. |
Understanding DNS — the Foundation of Active Directory |
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Over the years, NT administrators have learned how to work with three
basic "infrastructure" tools — WINS, DNS and DHCP. But how
well have we really learned about DNS? The truth is that NT 4.0 really
didn't need DNS all that much, and most NT admins never had to do
anything more challenging than set up a basic "domain" for DNS
and pop a couple of records into that domain.
Now, with Active Directory, everything's changed. DNS stands at center stage and in fact you'd be crazy to even start implementing Active Directory before you had your DNS infrastructure nailed down. If you're not exactly sure what a "DNS forwarder" or "DNS slave" is, if you're fuzzy about the difference between domains and zones, if you were thinking that you'd expose the same set of DNS domains to the outside world as you do to your corporate network, then attend this entertaining, amusing — and informative tutorial. DNS can be dull — unless Mark's explaining it! |
Active Directory Planning, Concepts and Migration |
| Just getting started designing your Active Directory structure? Or did you just get "dropped" into an existing AD shop? You've probably heard that there's something called an organizational unit, something called a domain — which is somehow different than an "ancient" old NT 4 domain — as well as forests and trees. And DNS fits in here somewhere; will you have to replace all of those DNS servers? In fact, the major message that most people seem to get about AD is the "Everything That You Know Is Wrong." Fear not, for two reasons: first, in many ways AD isn't that different from what's come before and, second, you can come to this talk and have it all explained in just over one hour! You'll learn when to use domains versus when to use organizational units (as well as what they are!), how to design your new name space, why having four types of groups is simpler than having two types of groups, how to lay out your sites and, of course, what a site is in the first place. Then you'll find out about the two migration approaches, "in place" versus "clean and pristine," and which is right for you. When offered in the past, this talk fills rooms up quickly — so get there early to see the AD introduction that got Mark banned from presenting at Microsoft events! |
Understanding Active Directory Replication |
| Walk through the processes involved with Active Directory Replication step-by-step. Discover exactly how to configure your Windows 2000 Domain Controllers to take maximum advantage of the replication process. You will also learn the potential problems you may encounter and how to plan for and avoid many common errors. But most important, you'll learn how to use command-line and GUI-based tools to track — and sometimes prod — replication to make it do your bidding! |
Group Policy Troubleshooting |
| Group policies are a great tool but a potential nightmare. On the one hand, they let you do more support and administration while sitting at your desk than while wearing out your shoe leather; but on the other hand, when they go wrong, they provide the opportunity with just one click to bring an entire enterprise to its e-knees. In this session, best-selling Windows 2000 author Mark Minasi looks at how they work and what do when they seem not to work. |
Hardening Windows 2000 and 2003 Systems |
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Once upon a time, all you had to do to
make a server or workstation useful was to just install it and
configure it to the client's needs. Unfortunately that's now
only part of the job. Nowadays we've also got to tailor it
AGAINST the needs of the other clients on your systems -- the bad
guys. Configuring a system to be harder to attack isn't hard; it
just requires understanding and implementing an array of settings.
In this informative and enjoyable talk, explains how you can make your
system as dirtbag-proof as possible, and as simply as possible.
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The Secrets of Effective Technical Talks: How to Explain Tech Without Tucking Them In! |
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One of the most essential professional skills in any organization is
communication: you've got to be as successful in talking to the carbon
units as you are in talking to the silicon units, or even your greatest
ideas will fall on deaf ears. (At least, that's the case until the
silicon units start controlling salaries and budgets.) |
Software Quality — Why the Software We Use Is So Bad and What We Can Do To Fix It |
| Software has defects. (The programmers have taught us to call them
"bugs," but they're defects nonetheless.) That, in and of
itself, is not terrible: virtually every product has defects. What's
amazing about shrink-wrap software, however, is the sheer number of
defects. Popular operating systems, word processors, Internet browsers
and e-mail packages have literally hundreds or thousands of defects —
can you imagine buying a microwave oven, a hamburger, a house or a car
with thousands of defects? Of course you can't. In our society, we normally put purveyors of low-quality products out of business. So why is software different? Simple: because we allow it to be different. In this provocative talk based on his hard-hitting book The Software Conspiracy: Why Software Vendors Create Faulty Products, How They Can Harm You, and What You Can Do About It, software industry veteran journalist Mark Minasi discusses why we accept low-quality software in the first place, why it doesn't seem to get much better, and presents a concrete multi-point plan that YOU, the software consumer, can follow to fix the software industry. Using startling examples (did you know about the bug in a pickup truck's computer that killed a child?) and wry wit to make his points, Mark will keep your attendees on the edge of their seats as he first describes the problem, then offers solutions that we should adopt — and soon. Some of the largest IT conferences in the country have featured this popular talk; call now to add it to your next meeting! |