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Service Pack 1 Released For Windows Vista

By: Chad A. Johnson · Posted on April 7, 2008 · 2 Comments

Where does the time go? It’s hard to believe that it has been over a year since the release of Windows Vista. As a sort of birthday present, Microsoft has completed Service Pack 1 for Vista. Unlike Service Pack 2 for Windows XP, you will not see much in the way of new functionality. The focus of SP1 is stability, compatibility and performance.

This means that your Vista computer may seem to have more pep after the upgrade. File transfers should complete faster, and problematic peripherals just may run smoother.

Reviews of SP1 are mixed. Some tests are showing speed improvements, while others don’t show much difference. One thing that reviewers [Read more...]

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Windows Vista for Real Estate Agents

By: Chad A. Johnson · Posted on January 6, 2008 · 8 Comments

Part I: You’ll Be Migrating Sooner Or Later

In the last week, I had 2 separate conversations with real estate agents that concerned me. The first was with an agent who just ordered a beautiful Lenovo Thinkpad X61 Series Tablet, complete with Windows XP Tablet Edition installed.

The second conversation was with a real estate agent who had been using Windows Vista on his HP Pavilion laptop for the past several months. The agent asked me how difficult it would be to remove Vista and install Windows XP.

Why did both conversations concern me so much? It has to do with the idea of equipping new technology with an operating system that just celebrated its 7th birthday. In technology years (much like dogs years), that is ancient.

Windows XP versus Vista

While I am the first to admit that Windows Vista is not as amazing as it had originally been billed, it is a positive step forward in the evolution of operating systems.

Think back to 2001 for a minute. There was no such thing as spyware, worms or trojans. Few people had digital cameras and video cameras. A 10 gigabyte hard drive was a ton of storage space. Home networks with Wi-Fi and network-connected printers and hard drives were just starting to gain in popularity.

Windows XP was built for the technology needs of 2001. Simply put, Windows Vista can better handle the technologies and security threats of 2008. It is less prone to spyware infestation. Network and peripheral connections are simple to establish and maintain. Best of all, the hundreds of gigabytes of music, photos and videos that we have all collected are easy to manage.

Vista Endorsed By The National Association of Realtors

In light of the beating that Vista has taken over the past year, I must commend NAR for going against public opinion by endorsing the use of Windows Vista for real estate agents. With an “it’s here to stay, so make the best of it” sort of attitude, NAR embraced Vista at the recent Realtor convention in Las Vegas by offering the presentation, “What Can Windows Vista™ Do For Your Business” (purchase the audio file of this course).

John N. Frank takes a more cautious approach to recommending Windows Vista for real estate agents in his Realtor Magazine article Walk, Don’t Run, to Vista. Although Frank has reservations about the operating system, his article makes a compelling argument for including Vista in your next computer purchase.

Software Compatibility

One of the biggest concerns with migrating to Vista has been software compatibility. While your old software may not work on Vista, all current programs are compatible. Even real estate specific programs, such as Zipforms (Winforms), have released Vista compatible versions or patches.

Before moving to Vista, take an inventory of the software and peripherals (printers, scanners, etc.) that you use. Go to the manufacturers’ sites for each program and device to determine if they offer a Vista compatible patch or if you must purchase a newer version or model. This means that you must budget for software and peripheral expenses.

Vista Is For Your Next Computer, Not Your Current One

I could not close this post without touching on the subject of upgrading to Vista. As you can tell by this point, I am a fan of Vista. I have had a wonderful experience with the operating system since its release.

While I wholeheartedly recommend Vista for your next computer purchase, I don’t endorse upgrading your current computer to it. If your computer was built for Windows XP, stick with it. You will be very disappointed with Vista if you run it on a machine that doesn’t have enough power run it smoothly.

For those who have already made the jump to Windows Vista, Part II of this series will provide tips on improving your Vista experience.

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Why Ubertor For Your Next Real Estate Website?

By: Reggie · Posted on September 27, 2007 · 2 Comments

Occasionally here at MyTechOpinion – Technology for Real Estate we will invite a guest writer from a top real estate technology company. This week I am pleased to announce that Stephen Jagger from Ubertor has the spotlight. (By the way…Ubertor also provides SingleProperty websites that allow you to keep all the data within your original site, while having a domain go directly to your single property site.)

Reggie asked me to write a post about what makes Ubertor real estate agent websites so different from our competitors. Here are a few points that make us different. To really get a feel for it, feel free to order a website on our system and you will get the first 30 days free. What a great way to try us out.

1. Google Webmaster Guidelines
We have built our real estate agent websites to follow Google’s http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769
http://www.brianbecker.ca/
http://www.sellwithstratton.com
http://www.loftsvancouver.com
http://www.jameswarren.ca

3. Integration
Our system has the ability of being integrated into Google Sitemaps, Google Maps, Feedburner.com plus you can post any widget that you like into your website. It is quick and easy to manage.

4. IDX Compatibility
We have created the system so that any agent anywhere can use it. Want to have your areas property search built in? No problem, you can use our MLS tab within the control panel to add your MLS property search or the IDX feed of your choice. Here are some examples:
http://www.sandiegocastles.com/ – San Diego, CA
http://www.jeffandsteve.com/ – Palo Alto, CA
http://www.moveuputah.com/ – Draper, UT
http://www.historicmodern.com/ – Okeechobee, FL

5. Flexibility
Without using CSS you can add pages, delete pages, change page names, add banner images, remove the banner completely, flip the template colors, plus much more. The system is built to give you as much flexibility as possible so that you can have a unique look and feel for your website.

There is so much that can be done with an Ubertor website and so many reasons why you should have one. From a dollar point of view we are so confident that you will love our product we will give you the first 30 days free. Plus there is NO Setup Fee, No Contract and No Obligation. Check us our here http://www.ubertor.com/

Here is an interview I did with the Real Estate Channel that answers some more questions about Ubertor:

Here are some testimonials about our product:

“This is just a little note to let you know how pleased I am that I made the move to Ubertor. As you know I had a website designed, built and marketed professionally some years ago. This site was and is a great source of business for me so I was really nervous about changing anything. I wondered, why mess with something that is working? However the site was hard to work with and I had to pay people to do changes to the site, upload photos, etc. etc. I was not skilled enough to do my own work on it. My new Ubertor site is great! It doesn’t take much training to be really good at managing my own site! I am really happy with it.
I still stay up were I was in the search engines too.”
Trish Anderson, RE/MAX All Points
Burnaby, BC

“Ubertor is a small Real Estate software provider based out of Vancouver, Canada that is definitely worth checking out if you’re looking a simple, all-in-one solution to get your real estate business on the Internet.”
Joel Burslem – FutureOfRealEstateMarketing.com
Portland, Oregon

“Ubertor’s product was the first I found that offers the flexibility I desired. The sites are simple enough for the novice yet offer the more sophisticated user the tools required for full content control, such as access to code and the ability to add and edit pages and site navigation. Of course, your featured homes presentation software is among the best I have encountered.”
Kris Berg, Prudential California Realty
San Diego, California

“This has become the best RE sales tool that I have ever invested in! I have referred other fellow agents within my office to their services & they all have been equally impressed. I must say I LOVE my website & the results it gets! Ubertor was so easy to work with in tweaking my site & their support is super! Their excellence continues to exceed my expectations. Use them they are GREAT!!!”
Steve Church, The Muljat Group
Bellingham, Washington

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PSD2HTML for Coding Your Real Estate Blog Design

By: Reggie · Posted on September 15, 2007 · 4 Comments

Do you have a design for your real estate website but need someone to code it? Of course you don’t want just anyone; you need someone that truly understands markup languages and search engine optimization (SEO) technology. If so, PSD2HTML might be a good answer for your needs. They will take your website design and create markup that looks exactly the same. With PSD2HTML you can ask them to pay special attention to site compatibility, dynamic HTML, CSS, and markup options. You can also specify your blog or content manager platform such as Blogger, Drupal, Movable Type, Joomla, Pligg, Typo3, and WordPress. PSD2HTML promotes an “8 working hour turnaround for the first page of the order”. Take a look at a few of their examples here.

If you don’t have a design, you could try their designing service Outline2Design. First look at pricing as custom work comes at a cost. However their designs are gorgeous and might just help you establish your real estate brand.
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Winforms meets Microsoft Vista

By: Reggie · Posted on March 26, 2007 · 3 Comments

Today’s savvy Real Estate agents use Winforms (or Zipforms) to manage their real estate forms. However if you’ve just upgraded to Microsoft Vista you may have a few challenges getting it installed. Loren Nason over at the Future of Real Estate Technology just posted an article entitled “How to use Winforms with Microsoft Vista”. In the article Loren talks about the recommended steps to getting your Winforms (or Zipforms) application installed on your PC. Strangely enough Winforms has recommend a theme change. I’m not sure but maybe the compatibility issue is with the new Aero feature in Microsoft Vista? Loren did note that he didn’t have to do this for the desktop version. If you’ve had experience please leave your comments.
To see Winform’s official communication, click here.
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Need a Computer Now, But Can’t Run Windows Vista?

By: Chad A. Johnson · Posted on February 12, 2007 · 3 Comments

I have found myself in a bit of a predicament these last few weeks. Occasionally I’m approached by a real estate agent for recommendations on what computer to purchase. Up until recently, I have always had an answer for them. This all changed with the introduction of Windows Vista. As I discussed in my recent posting, “Real Estate Agents: Windows Vista Isn’t a Good View for You, Yet.”, it would be ill-advised to recommend a computer running Windows Vista to a real estate agent at this point in time. It could take months for all of the programs that a real estate agent relies on to become Vista compatible. There are still options of purchasing a Windows XP machine. Dell and HP are continuing to offer Windows XP on their business series computers. You can also find remaining inventory of Windows XP computers in local electronic stores. Recommending this option is difficult for me, though, since Windows XP is a 5 year old operating system. Why purchase dying technology? You could always upgrade to Vista on one of these machines once compatibility issues have been resolved. The upgrade would be a costly endeavor in both time and money. I have run across a solution to this recent dilemma. Polywell Computers (http://www.polywell.com/), an award-winning computer builder based out of South San Francisco, is offering to install both Windows XP and Windows Vista on the same computers. This is what is known as a “dual-boot” machine. Upon starting the computer, you are given the choice of working in Windows XP or Vista. Having a dual-boot machine gives you the best of both worlds. You can continue to run your real estate business on Windows XP and slowly acclimate yourself to Windows Vista. Once all of your programs are updated to run smoothly on Vista, you can simply phase-out your use of XP. If this solution sounds good to you, keep these 2 things in mind. First, you will be purchasing 2 operating systems, so your computer will cost you about $200 more than a single-boot system. Second, don’t skimp on hard drive space, since you will be actually splitting your hard drive in half. Additional hard drive space is cheap these days, so this shouldn’t be too much of a concern.

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Real Estate Agents: Windows Vista Isn’t a Good View for You, Yet.

By: Chad A. Johnson · Posted on February 4, 2007 · 1 Comment

The wait is finally over. Microsoft has finally released its replacement for the aging Windows XP operating system. You may be wondering if you should go out and purchase a new computer running this highly publicized new operating system or purchase an upgrade. My advice to you is keep waiting.

There are 2 main reasons to NOT purchase Vista at this time. The first is related to hardware compatibility. Every component of a computer needs software, called drivers, to work properly and these drivers are operating system specific. Not all hardware has stable drivers available for Vista as of yet. In fact, Reggie Nicolay (my fellow blogger) and I are ready to purchase new home machines running Vista (we are keeping Windows XP on all of our business machines), but the manufacturer is having driver issues so we are waiting as well.

The second reason to NOT purchase Vista at this time has to do with software compatibility. While main stream software companies seem to be reasonably prepared for Vista, it is going to take weeks, if not months, for real estate and lending software companies to update their products for Vista. In my area, 2 invaluable programs (Winforms and our MLS) are not Vista compatible. Without those tools, an agent couldn’t do business.

If you are in the market for a new computer…

Hold off if you can. If you are in a situation where you need a new computer, purchase one with Windows XP installed and get an “Express Upgrade” coupon for Vista. Many computer manufacturers are still offering XP on machines and there are still many machines in stock at your local big-box store with XP loaded.

The Express Upgrade coupon is available for any computer purchased since October. Those coupons can be redeemed for a free upgrade copy of Vista (usually with a $10 shipping charge). The catch is that they must be redeemed by March 31st of this year. So if you bought a computer in that timeframe, dig out that coupon, send it in and then hold on to the Vista upgrade disc until the dust settles.

If you are considering upgrading…

What’s the rush? From what I have read, there aren’t many features that are going to enhance your real estate business, but the time you waste dealing with incompatibilities will definitely take away from your productivity.

Only consider an upgrade to Vista if the computer is relatively new (look for a Windows Vista Capable sticker on the machine) or if you got an Express Upgrade coupon with your machine. Even then you need to do your homework before you move forward with the installation. Contact the manufacturer of the machine to determine if compatible drivers are available and how to get them. That isn’t too difficult and those types of problems should be solved soon. You will also need to identify all of the programs that you rely on and determine if they are Vista compatible. This can usually be found out by visiting the software manufacturer’s website.

The lure of a new operating system can be tempting, especially for those of us with an affinity towards technology, but we can’t lose site of our objectives. If you are a real estate agent, your objective is to sell houses, not invest hours to overcome technical issues. Keep life simple and let others be the guinea pigs for Vista.