CIO Solutions
September 2015 - Issue 55
Find It Fast
CIO Client Appreciation Party: Beer Brew Off!
App of the Month: Colorfy
Tech Tip: Let's Count to Windows 10
Employee Spotlight: Kenny Emerson

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 CIO Birthdays 
Nick Marshall - Sept. 4th
Paul Duncan - Sept. 8th
Peter Summers - Sept. 10th
Nam Thai - Sept. 18th
Tien Tran - Sept. 23rd 

CIO Anniversaries 
Paul Duncan - 1 yr. - 9/15
Chris Narvaez - 9  yrs. - 9/20
  
Labor Day
Monday, September 7th
 

 Remembrance Day
Friday, September 11th
 
Grandparents Day
Sunday, September 13th
 
CIO Beer Brew-Off
Thursday, September 17th
 
Fall Equinox
Wednesday, September 23rd
 

We Don't Speculate, We Know 
 
While the East Coast may be starting to see changing leaves, here on the West Coast we're still sunny and hot. Most casual chatter about the weather these days wends its way to El Nio, and our impending wet winter. At such times we are reminded of how much of our experience with the weather is rooted in hypothesis, prediction, and speculation. These are fine conditions for an afternoon chat, but they remind me of how committed CIO is to rooting technology decisions in research and experience.
 
Let's speculate about our coming rains, and the viability of the self-driving car but when it comes to your Enterprise needs let's make sure that we're sure. 

At CIO, we know that you trust us with helping you make important technological decision for your business. We hope that you'll continue coming to us for guidance with your IT decisions, and we'll continue doing our best to show you just how much we value that trust.
 
Don't forget to come by Thursday, September 17 for our 4th Annual Brew Off. It's always good to say hello in person, and let you know how much we appreciate you.

CIO Client Appreciation Party: Beer Brew-Off!


CIO Solution's next Client Appreciation Event is happening NEXT WEEK on Thursday, September 17th from 6:00pm-9:00pm. Come join us as some of your favorite CIO staff go head-to-head to be the best CIO Brew Team.
 
You and a guest are invited to join us at our 4th Annual Beer Brew-Off!

Come enjoy some appetizers and judge our deliciously brewed beers while mingling with the CIO crew!

We try and get all of our clients on our contact list but sometimes we miss a few, feel free to forward this out to your co-workers! Everyone is invited!!

Please let us know by Monday, September 14th if you will be able to make it: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=npoa87cab&oeidk=a07ebfbp00y0bed93b3

App of the Month: Colorfy
 
"Colorfy, the coloring book for adults!"

The Colorfy app was released this past July and has been a hit ever since. Coloring books have become an increasing trend among adults. This trend started in France, where adult coloring books have been reported to sell quicker than cookbooks. Of course images are typically more complex than children's coloring books. Users have said that it helps them de-stress and relax. It is a new form of art therapy.
 
Psychiatrists have also mentioned that the focus and concentration from coloring draws people away from the usual stresses in their lives. By coloring within the lines, users tend to feel that their lives are a little more in order and within reachable limits - which is something that is often difficult to get away from when people are overwhelmed.
 
The Colorfy app brings adult coloring books to mobile levels. When work gets to be too much, or people feel overwhelmed with their duties, they can take a short break from it all and clear their minds by simply going into the app on their phones.
 
There is a variety of images for users to pick from. They simply choose the color of their choice, tap on the spaces where they'd like to fill, and within moments, beautiful images come to life. After users are done, they can also share their finished designs on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and much more!
 
Coloring is not just for children anymore. It can help adults escape now as well!
 
 
The Colorfy app is available for FREE for iOS and Android users!
   
Send your favorite free app to [email protected] and it may find its way into next month's newsletter!
    
Tech Tip: Let's Count to Windows 10
 


 

"Microsoft finally learned how to count to 10!"

I've heard this joke several times since the release of Windows 10 and it's pretty funny once you think about it. After all, the list of Windows versions spanning from 1 to 10 has definitely not gone in sequential order: Windows 1,2,3,95,98,2000,ME,XP,Vista,7,8,10. But here we are, and what everyone really wants to know is, should I upgrade to 10? Well, let's talk about it.

The adoption of a new Microsoft OS has typically been rather slow. Upgrade costs, unreliable features and resistance to change are among the most common reasons for someone to keep on using their current version of Windows. This time around Microsoft is getting rid of one of those hurdles by offering Windows 10 as a free upgrade to anyone with a valid 7 or 8 license. What this does is make it easy for you to get on the Windows 10 bandwagon and that's just what Microsoft wants.

As of writing this, there are around 75 million computers running Windows 10 which accounts for about 5% of the total out there. Compare that to Windows 7's 50% and Windows 8's 19% market share, you can see the mountain that Microsoft still has to climb. By giving away Windows 10 for free, Microsoft is banking on the fact that there will be more Windows 10 machines out there than anything else in a year or two, and in the OS game; market share is king.

Now that Windows 10 is free, the next questions is, should you upgrade? I'll be going over my list of Pros and Cons and I'll let you make that decision for yourself. First off, we'll start with the Cons.

The number one Con that I have right now is the lack of proper driver support. The simple fact that some programs currently do not work on Windows 10 can be a real deal breaker for some people. That picture editing program, or that web browser you love may not work 100% right now, and that could be a good enough reason to wait a little while longer before upgrading.

The second Con on my list is the "Free" nature of Windows 10. Some people have called the release of Windows 10 more of a Beta than a finished version. There have been reports of updates and patches leaving some users with broken features or unrecoverable installations. Over time, these occurrences will become less frequent and Windows 10 will work just as well as 7 or 8 for most people. Getting the OS for free is great, but not if you are forced into being a beta tester while they work out the bugs.

The third and final Con that I have is about privacy. There has been a lot of negative buzz about how Windows 10 tracks your every move and sends all of that data back to the Microsoft Mothership for analysis or worse... straight to the NSA. Now, before we go out and build more tin foil hats, I think we need to think about the fact that almost all of our devices already do the same types of data collection. Log into your google account and search for baseball hats and before you know it you might get an email from a hat store with a coupon. The real story is that a lot of the data collected is anonymized and scrubbed of identifiers, so it can't be traced to you. And you can turn the feature off as well, however, it is not very straight forward to do so. That's my biggest issue with the privacy settings in Windows 10.

Now let's take a look at the Pros of upgrading to Windows 10.

There is a new Start menu! Long have the people lamented Windows 8's Start menu screen, along with its sub menu. Built around tablets more than a desktop, I really feel that this was the sole reason for Windows 8's slow adoption. The new Start menu combines the old and the new, giving you a list of programs much like Windows 7 and the tile view of Windows 8 for other things. Overall, it is a good compromise and it really improves the day to day use of the OS.

Another cool feature of Windows 10 is Cortana. This Siri-esque personal assistant can help you with the weather, email notifications and tracking numbers, calendar events, and it should even let you know about that delayed fight you're going to be way too early to. Overall, it's a nice addition to the Windows 10 playbook but something most Siri users won't be that excited about.

Microsoft Edge is the new web browser included with Windows 10. It's fully integrated with Cortana so you can right click on pretty much anything and Cortana will be able to do a contextual search on it. Searching for Pluto while reading an article on the former planet will not garner you a picture of a dog. The other cool feature of Edge is the ability to write notes onto a webpage and save a screenshot of it without having to go into another program. Think Minority Report, except you're actually just circling the TV you want to buy on Amazon.

My last Pro is the use of Universal Apps. This has been something that Microsoft has been trying to do since the release of Windows 8. With the release of the App store, Microsoft wanted to have a single place to download all of the Apps you need for your device, much like the Apple and Android stores. The difference with the Windows 10 universal Apps is that they will be truly universal between all devices running Windows 10, including all Windows phones and tablets. This all circles back to market share, it is a lot more attractive for an App developer to create one version and have it used on a desktop, tablet and phone rather than 3 separate ones. Bringing everything under one umbrella is going to make for better Apps and in the end, a better user experience.

To summarize my thoughts on Windows 10: I like the direction that Microsoft is headed with the new Start menu and universal apps but I am a bit hesitant about the current driver and update issues. Overall I have found that most people like Windows 10 after upgrading, which usually is not said about Windows 8. So there you have it; Windows 10, a better Windows 8.
 

 
 
Field Services Engineer
Ryan Popke
805-692-6700 x118

Employee Spotlight: Field Services Engineer
 
Full name:
Kenneth Emerson

Family info (optional):
I have a family of five, Mother, Father and two twin brothers.

Where did you grow up?
My home town is and has been Solvang for the last 20 plus years.

When did you move to Santa Barbara?
I am still living in Solvang with my father.

What you like best about the Santa Barbara area:
I enjoy the Feel of the area. People are nice and welcoming.

When did you start working at CIO:
I started my time at CIO Back in January.

What you like best about working at CIO:
I enjoy the challenges that I get to overcome and learn from.

Dreams/aspirations:
To be the best at what I do, help people along the way and have fun while I do it.

What would you do if you won the lottery: 
At first I would throw a big party. Then I would invest to make the money grow. Finally I would use the money to help out my family and friends.

Favorite color:
Blue

Favorite food:
BBQ

Favorite book/movie:
Space Balls (the book, it's way better than the movie)

Motto/quote:
If today was rough, make tomorrow better.
 
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