07.02.08

Office 2008 Home Edition and an Update to Entourage for Exchange

Posted in Home, Work at 5:46 pm by JohnB

Hi all,

I wanted to share this little bit of knowledge, I couldn’t find any information out there so I played around until things worked.

Scenario:
I buy Office 2008 for the Mac - Home and Student Edition because it’s cheaper and I don’t have an Exchange server.
I update as updates come along, like the diligent user I am (should user be highlighted there.. I’m not sure!)
I use the Mac Mail application for ALL of my email, because I like it and it works well. I use iCal for my appointments for the same reasons.
I take on a job where I’m given a mailbox on an Exchange Server. Now, Mail will connect to an Exchange server using the IMAP protocol and this is fine on the whole, unless that Exchange SErver is 2007 in which case appointment invitations are irretrievable (this is an Exchange issue I believe as Outlook on a PC connecting with IMAP does the same thing).
Joy! I’m allowed to download Entourage with Exchange access from the service provider of the Exchange system - it’s hosted you see, a solution i wholeheartedly support of course!
Pain! I install the new Entourage and then am prompted to do an update, the update fails with the message:-

"You cannot install Office 2008 12.1.0 Update on this volume. A version of
the software required to install this update was not found on this volume."

This is of course no fun, it’s even less fun when I find that non of my Office applications now work either!

The solution was to remove the Office Suite from the machine (dragging the folder from Applications to the Trash and emptying it), re-booting, re-installing the Suite from the DVD, re-installing the new Entourage from the DMG I downloaded and then letting the updater loose on the system.

It looks like the bottom line on this is - if you change ANYTHING in Office, do it from a FRESH installation before you update. This is more than tedious, even today I had to re-downloaed SP1 and then get the 12.1.1 update too, this process is only going to get longer until the restrictions that the updater seems to be hitting are mitigated.

But it’s working now so I’m (reasonably) happy!

- J.

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06.23.08

What to pack?

Posted in Home, Work at 2:25 am by JohnB

I’ve heard it said that the worst thing about travelling is packing the right clothes. I don’t have a problem in this area generally, it’s:

Work clothes x number of days with clients
Tee-shirts x evenings away
Jeans and cargos (1 pair each)
Smalls to cover all of the changes.

Sometimes though I find myself thinking “If only I’d packed…”. Today is one of those times. Andover near Boston seems like a nice place, this is what I can see of it through the torrential downpour streaming from the skies outside the Chillis I’m currently ensconced within (GOOODD Habanero Wings!)

I got pretty wet on my walk here from the hotel to get my ‘MUST STAY AWAKE’ meal - actually as a side bar I’m interested in finding out anyone else’s routine to beat the clock? I have only 5 hours to gain somewhere but it seems that these short trips of destined to be tired and off-kilter! My usual routine, and this time was no exception, is land, get to hotel, get checked in, have an evening meal and stay awake until as late as possible (typically 9-10 pm). I then awake as fresh as a daiy at about 4 am ready for the world!!

Anyway, tonight’s meal segment of the process at Chillis (good margueritas too) has been accompanied by the thrumming of rain on the roof and I’m thinking that perhaps a raincoat might have been a good choice.. next time perhaps!avel

- J.

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06.18.08

MPS re-working required in HMC4 after Exchange 2007 SP1 installed.

Posted in Work at 8:52 pm by JohnB

We’ve seen a problem being highlighted by a couple of hosters where their HMC4-based customers were (horror of horrors) able to see each other in the GAL. This is obviously not a good things and was deserving of some investigation. After some digging around and some pointed questions we found that the problem wasn’t that the Default GAL had the wrong permissions, but that applying the Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack1 actually brings back the standard corporate address lists (All Groups Address List, All Users Address List etc). After service pack 1 has been applied, you have to go into the deployment tool and run the tasks below in order to get rid of the ambiguous and security breaching address lists.