Technology Musings
In: Google
18 Jan 2010If you’ve signed up for Google Apps, it may not be immediately apparent if email forwarders are supported; fortunately for everyone, they are. But they’re not called “forwarders” and aren’t managed quite like traditional forwarders. Instead, Google Apps provides a much more robust Groups feature which allows greater control over who can send mail and how many people receive it. With just a few steps, we can configure Groups to act just like a traditional forwarder.
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If you need to pull in data from an external source ad hoc, using SSIS is often overkill. Instead, SQL Server Import and Export Wizard (called “Import and Export Data” in the Start Menu, but DTSWizard.exe in the filesystem) usually does a good job. This is especially great way to pull in data from users, which typically comes in the form of an Excel attachment. Unfortunately, the providers to import from the newer Office 2007 and 2010 XLSX file format (also referred to as “Open Office XML”) are not available by default and will likely result in a “Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0 Provider is not registered” error. The fix is as easy as installing the “2007 Office System Driver: Data Connectivity Components” package from Microsoft. This same package will also enable access to Access 2007.
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In: Internet
17 Nov 2009Just a quick note on a late Tuesday evening: Firefox 3.6 Beta 3 dropped. Go ahead and grab your preferred build from the beta download page or a simple click on Help > Check for Updates… should work. Feel free to check out the release notes. However, for the real details, peruse over 80 changes since Beta 2.
In: Microsoft
16 Nov 2009The new Office 2010 Beta was expected this week and just dropped on MSDN and TechNet. Unfortunately, it does appear to be on the faster “Top Downloads” servers – I’m getting a paltry 450KB/s. The Professional Plus 2010 package is available in both 64-bit and 32-bit flavors; download details for both appear below.
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In: SSIS
14 Oct 2009If you need to access a custom .NET Assembly from an SSIS Script Task, Microsoft doesn’t make things very easy – but it’s still possible with a little setup. This is a great way to introduce custom data types or some new functionality without having to replicate that code in a new environment.
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