Looking to fiddle with things!

[skyman84]

HI guys,
Newbey to this forum, but have a fair bit of knowledge about BlackBerrys (supported them for a few years now).

Bit of backgroud on me, I'm an IT Specialist (end user support) in the one of the worlds largest IT companys (shhhh, I won't say which one, but it's an easy guess!) I picked up the support for BlackBerrys last year and was pretty much thrown in head first, I've learnt alot (mostly about the devices) but only have limited access to the company's BES as it's hosted in another country.

So....

I've decided to setup at home the following;

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise (and created a domain)
Exchange 2003
Outlook 2007
BES 4.1

I'm hosting my own website and mailserver, I've set up my blackberry on my BES and all is working great, all options and functions seem to be running great.

I'm posting here to ask what else can I play with?? anyone have any suggestions??

There are only 2 things that limit me, 1, the blackberry I'm using is the 7100v, so I'm limited with the software and updates I can do on it. 2, money, I hate paying for stuff! so all things to play with must be as free as possable!!

Any comments or suggestions are very welcome, oh, and my BlackBerry pin is over there <----- so please add me if you want to!!

Cheers all!

[dhendriksen]

Wirelessly posted

Just curious, how much did it cost to get that all setup? I am on a corporate BES with my employer, but my side business is doing very well so I'm thinking about leaving here. Problem is, I'm hooked on bes!

What would it cost for me to set that up?

[skyman84]

Well,
That would all depend on how much up time you'd like your server to have. At the moment Server 2003 and Exchange 2003 are free versions from Microsoft, so time limited to 160 days. And as for BES, it's free aslong as you limit it to 1 CAL, I believe RIM call it BlackBerry professional as oppose to BES, but pretty much the same thing. So if you can deal with a quick rebuild every 6 months the that'll be the best route!

I think to set up a server inc all licences would cost aprox £400 for server 2003 and another £200 or so for exchange. (plus cals if there were more than a few users).
At the mo I'm just playing, and if the 160 days to come around, I'll just back up my website and mailfiles and rebuild it!

[dhendriksen]

Well,
That would all depend on how much up time you'd like your server to have. At the moment Server 2003 and Exchange 2003 are free versions from Microsoft, so time limited to 160 days. And as for BES, it's free aslong as you limit it to 1 CAL, I believe RIM call it BlackBerry professional as oppose to BES, but pretty much the same thing. So if you can deal with a quick rebuild every 6 months the that'll be the best route!

I think to set up a server inc all licences would cost aprox £400 for server 2003 and another £200 or so for exchange. (plus cals if there were more than a few users).
At the mo I'm just playing, and if the 160 days to come around, I'll just back up my website and mailfiles and rebuild it!

Not to take a stab at you, but I would fell bad just using free trials all my life. These businesses are in place to make money. Taking advantage of them like that, I couldn't sleep at night. All I can say, is karma's a *itch.

[skyman84]

Totally agree 100% with you my friend, if I were running a business then I'd purchase the software in a heartbeat, however at the moment this is all purely educational for me, which is what Microsoft partly designed these trials for.
Any ways, we digress, the social morality and the intricacies of global and corporate licensing is about as far from the reason of my creating this thread as can be.
I'd really love some ideas of what I can play with if anyone would like to offer me some??

Cheers

[CO_BBTechie]

One thing I'd like to play with if I had the time, and the approval from the powers-that-be, is software configurations. i.e. Limiting the software titles that can be used, pushing software to the device, and developing procedures for removing rogue software that users get on their device before such application control policies are established.

There are threads on all of these, I just haven't had time to look into it further.

[dhendriksen]

Totally agree 100% with you my friend, if I were running a business then I'd purchase the software in a heartbeat, however at the moment this is all purely educational for me, which is what Microsoft partly designed these trials for.
Any ways, we digress, the social morality and the intricacies of global and corporate licensing is about as far from the reason of my creating this thread as can be.
I'd really love some ideas of what I can play with if anyone would like to offer me some??

Cheers

Sorry man, I didn't mean to hijack your thread, and I apologize if my remark offended you. I sell subscription products, and people taking advantage of free trials as you mentioned drives me crazy. Not saying that is your intent, and I do understand what trials are for.

[skyman84]

Yeah, that's something I've been thinking about playing with, there's a few video tutorials on the BlackBerry site I've checked out about software push's etc but I've struggled to find much software packaged to push down.
I've got a few bits such as sametime I can play with, so I'll give that a try at somepoint.

[CO_BBTechie]

I'd look at the FREE to use company-approved apps, such as Yahoo Instant Messenger, Google Maps, 411-type apps, News & weather push (our industry is very affected by adverse weather.)

I find all kinds of games and sports apps on the devices when they're traded in for the next model. But the upper-ups don't seem to have a problem with it so I've not had reason to work in that area.

[skyman84]

Sorry man, I didn't mean to hijack your thread, and I apologize if my remark offended you. I sell subscription products, and people taking advantage of free trials as you mentioned drives me crazy. Not saying that is your intent, and I do understand what trials are for.

Hey Dan,
No, no offence taken at all :smile:, I've been in the business long enough to see the world from both sides of the coin, so I can see your point.
Happy BlackBerry-ing!

[aapierre]

Skyman84

Boris Johnson [him of the stupid look] said something interesting on radio this am in relation to the 12 lympics.

He hinted at there being an electronic device which allowed people to be aware of the scheduling of all events that day. obviously this could be sport or arena specific or whole program etc..

It dawned on me that there is no need for the device but more for the software to do this.

Is this in your area of thinking?