Windows 2008 Server R2 & Xen Server 6.1

Windows 2008 Server R2 & Xen Server 6.1 doesn't seem to be good friends. Running Win Srv 2008 R2 on Xen Server 6.1 with more than one virtual CPU can get the virtual server into an overloaded state where it sooner or later crasch or freeze because keeps on running at high CPU level. One quick solution is to only use one virtual CPU. Other solutions might be to downgrade Xen Server or install a specific version of Xen Tools (probably 6.0.2 of a certain patch).

My excuse fo this post? Xen Server is Linux :-)

MOSX MDM and device identity

I discovered a small thing that can make life hard as an Apple device admin. When you enroll a Apple device that has a SIM card to a Apple Mobile Device Management server the server (or the device) uses the SIM card in it's identification. This can confuse the MDM server if for example a user switches device and put the same SIM card in the new device. The MDM server will not be able to distinguish the new device with the old SIM card (not even if you remove the old device) and report it as "New Device" and no pushing of profiles or info gathering works.

The solution is simple though. Before enrolling the SIM card equipped device pop out the SIM card. When the enrollment is finished you can pop back the card and everything works as expected.

Web interface for Blogger

The web interface for creating posts in Blogger (blogspot.com) is really crappy for mobile devices. Ironically enough it is worse in Google Chrome for Android (Google Nexus 7) than for Mobile Safari for iOS (iPad 2). Choosing labels simply don't work in Chrome on Android, all taps pass through the label list into the underlaying text input field ending up hiding the label list and activating the text input field. This is the same on iPhone but in Safari on iPad it works well although it is slightly shaky there as well compared to the interface in Google Chrome or Safari on a computer (MacBook with Mac OS X).

One month with Android alongside iOS

 So, a month with Google Nexus 7 and Android (together with iPad 2 and iPhone 4 and iOS). if I should put it short it could be that I like Android as an operating system but that there's more applications and better applications in iOS.

One thing I have become to like is widgets, both on the lock screen and on the home screens after being logged in. It's very handy for showing information although you have to take security into accont when choosing widgets for your lock screen (widgets are smaller or bigger views of data or shortcuts to features in applications).

Speaking of security, both OS:es offer encryof the device and the data although with diffenrent starting points. In Android you activate the encryption and set a password for the encryption. In iOS the device is encrypted from the beginning but with no password set for decryption. As far as I have seen yet there's no feature for automatic locking or erasing of an Android device. In iOS you can set the device to erase the data after 1-10 failed login attempts. Via iCloud you can also track it, lock it or erase it. Locking and erasing is also possible to do from a Mac Server, which can be you on client if you don't have en extra computer. That means that for about 20 dollars you can get your own lock-or-erasesystem for your iOS devices (and Mac OS X devices as well). When I say erase I use kind of the same phrasing as Apple but what actually happens is that the password for the encryption is removed so the data is still there but it is encrypted and can't be decrypted without cracking the encryption. This means that encryption has to be activated (Mac OS X) and password set (iOS, in Mac OS X the password is set as part of the encryption process). I assume there are systems for this for Android as well but they aren't as well shown and easy to find and supported from the vendor.

I'm jumping around a little from one topic to another. The external speakers is substantially better in both my iPhone 4 and iPad 2 than in my Google Nexus 7 although I don't have any problems with the sound in itself. One thing I'm growing fond of, and I usually don't like spelling correction, is Swiftkey. It actually do such a good work in suggesting words (and has up to three suggestions) that it's usable. It doen't seem to agree fully with apps now and then though. It's not uncommon that I have to touch an text input field one extra time to get the Swiftkey keyboard to appear. Also it is sometimes very slow to appear. A good thing though is that if i connect an external keyboard it keeps the word suggestions although it hides the keyboard.

Looking at applications my general impression is that there are more good-looking and nice-behaving apps for iOS than Android (could be that I have only had Android for a month though). Some things that I really miss in Android is electronic versions of magazines, many distributors seem to go for iOS, and good writing and sketching applications. On iOS I actually have a hard time choosing because there are severall good ones but with slightly different features but for Android I haven't found one good handwriting app with a working wrist protection and I have worked my way through a bunch of them. Also the gaming market seems to be better and more varied for iOS.

A small thing to finish this off. I like the way you remove, move and uninstall applications better in Android, less risk of doing something wrong that you regret. In iOS there's a bigger risk of fumbling and uninstall the wrong app but in Android you would probably only drop the applications in the wrong home screen.