Other OS info

iTunes 8 is a neat application but I still get frustrated every time I upgrade or install a new version. I have alternative means of watching for program updates, namely FileHippo.com's Update Checker, so I don't need Apple's update program clogging my StartUp registry key. I don't have any Apple mobile devices, so that is another group of programs I don't need installed. I also don't need 'iTunesHelper', 'QuickTime Task', or 'AppleSyncNotifier' loading on startup.

The biggest offender, however, is the Outlook plug-in. Whenever someone is complaining that their Outlook is crashing quite a bit, or will not shutdown in a timely manner, the first thing I ask is if they have iTunes installed on their machine.

Even though you can uninstall the Apple Mobile Device Support, the iTunes Outlook Add-in will stick around, which means you have to go into the 'Trust Center' of Outlook 2007 to disable or delete the COM Add-in. I like to keep my Outlook Add-in-less as much as possible due to potential memory leaks and strange problems can creep in without warning. Outlook does a good enough job by itself for that.

Honestly, I just want an 'Advanced' install option so I can deselect the items I don't want installed by default. I wish it was a required item for all programs in order to get the 'Certified for...' label.

Keep in mind, I'm only picking on iTunes right now because I upgraded my previously rock solid 7.7.x 64-bit install to 8 and the curse of the Outlook plug-in crash happened on my system. Plenty of other programs out there will add unwanted or unneeded 'features' without permission. Microsoft is just as guilty.

Other COM Addin offenders that I disable:
Streets and Trips add-in for email communication, MapPoint Office Add-In, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Colleague Import Add-in, Microsoft Outlook Mobile Service, Microsoft VBA for Outlook Addin, Send to Bluetooth.

Note: I'm not affiliated with FileHippo.com, but I use their update program quite a bit.

I have a few OCS related posts in the wings but I've been tied up with travel, work and home activities, so they are currently stuck in Draft mode. I'm still behind on many items I need to complete before I can even think of finishing off those articles.

With that said though, this announcement from MS is worth an entry because it will make my life in the upcoming months that much easier. I've been doing a lot of Cisco/MS integration work this year, and there have always been many interesting gotchas.

Cisco Unified Communications Manager (aka CallManager) versions 4.2, 5.1 and 6.1 are now certified for Direct SIP connectivity with Office Communications Server.

Direct SIP allows connectivity between the OCS mediation server and the Cisco IP-PBX without the need for a gateway, meaning that Office Communicator users can be enabled for Enterprise Voice (i.e. Office Communicator is a full soft-phone, not just click-to-call or RCC) without significant upgrades or hardware replacements.

Read more about it here.

Short and sweet:

If you are looking for Greasemonkey functionality in Chrome, check this site out here.
If you are looking for an easy auto-updater for Chromium, check this site out here and check out the release directory here.

If you think your Chrome install updated over the weekend, it most likely did. The original version released was build 1583, and the build out now is 1798.

I'm sure buried in the EULA somewhere is that it can update behind your back without any notification too.

If you want to be riding the bleeding edge, download the newer snapshots from here.

As of a few hours ago, the Chromium build number is up to 0.2.152.0, whereas the current installed version of Chrome on my system seems to be version 0.2.149.29.

Much like the Firefox trunk builds, Chromium installs into a different directory than Chrome, so you can run them side by side if you wish.

Google Chrome came out today and the most impressive feature (to me) is the task manager.
Yep, task manager. In a web browser.

It also looks to be a cross-combination of WebKit, Safari and Google code. Interesting.
Countdown to 0-day exploit? I'm sure people are already looking.