Parker Management Group

I’ve never been a big fan of Best Buy.  Their business practices are frequently anti-consumer, and duping uninformed customers into spending money for things they don’t need seems central to their business model.

But duping uninformed customers into spending money on something they could otherwise get for free might just be a little worse.

So, in keeping with it’s core business of cashing in on customer ignorance, it should come as no surprise that Best Buy is now selling the Ubuntu Linux operating system for $19.99.

Why is this notable?  For those unfamiliar with Ubuntu, or Linux in general, this software is available free of charge.  Legally.  You don’t have to sign up for anything, be a member of some special club, or buy something to qualify.  Ubuntu is free, as are most Linux distributions (distros).

You can download Ubuntu from the official website or request a free CD.

Popularity: 16% [?]

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Keep your eyes open for my new book, due out later this Summer, which introduces small business owners to the world of free online business services.  More than just a list of sites and service, it provides easy to follow examples of how owners and managers can integrate these valuable services into their existing business model.

Stay tuned!

Popularity: 18% [?]

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If you’re a tech or sys admin, and you support Microsoft Outlook 2007 and Microsoft Exchange 2007 mailboxes on a regular basis, you are bound to run into the following message:

The action cannot be completed. The connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable. Outlook must be online or connected to complete this action.

This often occurs when attaching a new Outlook client to an Exchange mailbox in the mail control panel interface. This error is so common that Microsoft wrote a handy Knowledge Base article to address the issue: (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927481).

However, the article doesn’t touch on what - in my experience - is the most common cause of this error message: improperly configured software firewalls.

Now if you have a smart enough firewall, it will prompt you to either allow or deny access between Microsoft Outlook and the remote server when Outlook attempts to contact the Exchange server for the first time. Many firewalls, including every version of Microsoft’s Windows firewall I’ve used, will not prompt you or provide any indication that the firewall is blocking the connection.

Of course this will only fix the problem if your DNS is configured correctly (which you can check with nslookup or by pinging the server), and you know that your Exchange server is functioning properly (which you can verify by using Outlook Web Access in your browser, or by testing the mailbox on another user’s workstation).

Popularity: 100% [?]

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If there’s one thing that can can kill a great idea before it even gets out of the gate, it’s the likelihood that you won’t remember it later.

I know it sounds stupid; I mean how could you possibly forget something so exciting and potentially revolutionary? I’ll tell you how. Because of everything else in the world that is seemingly there only to distract you and rob you of your productivity. Things like traffic and morning radio, and the fact that you didn’t bring along a pencil and notebook when you had that epiphany as you were jogging this morning.

No worries. I’ll bet your cell phone is nearby.

Popularity: 41% [?]

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Do you consider yourself a newbie to web business? If so, this issue is for you. I’ve put together a checklist containing the ten essentials of any online business.

I suggest you print this checklist and keep it at your desk. As you accomplish each item in the list, you’ll see your profits steadily increase. Before you know it you’ll be earning a full time income from the web!

On with the checklist. Remember, you do not have to do these all at once. Work your way through the list one step at a time. Once you have every item on this list, you should really be seeing some steadily growing profits…

Popularity: 41% [?]

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