Solution:  Clonezilla, an open source solution that met my imaging needs:

1. Clone an entire XP setup and save it to the network (haven’t tried vista)
2. Image the same or like machine from the network share (There is a HD to HD option as well)
3. Multicasting:  (haven’t tried this yet but according to their website, they cloned 42 workstations in 10 minutes with a 5gig image).
4. It’s free (GPL)

I downloaded the “Clonezilla Live” ISO image, burned a disc and had a working image in about 30 minutes.  The only problem that I had was figuring out how to save it to my windows server.  I chose NFS, at first, but didn’t have the Unix services running on my server and didn’t want it to.  Next go around, I chose Samba and mounted my server share all was well.  The GUI isn’t the most intuitive or as user friendly as Ghost or Acronis but after a few tries, you will have no problem working around the program.

Links:

Clonezilla home page

Solution:  Had to do a force install of the Windows Update Agent.  Once I did that, updates installed without error once again. Instructions below:

1. Create a new directory on the c:\ drive and call it “update”
2. Download the Windows Update Agent installer and save it to the newly created directory (c:\update).
   1. WIndows Update Agent download
3. Go to a command prompt and type “C:\update\windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe /wuforce”
   1. the wuforce switch forces the reinstall. If you don’t use this windows will not continue with the installation.
4. Go to Windows Update and continue patching your system.

When you open the program, all you  get are options to make a data or audio disc, burn an ISO image and copy/erase a disc.  I remember the good old days when Nero was that simple to use and not taxing my system.  I have been using this program with great success on Vista, XP and Server 2003.  I only hope that it doesn’t get needlessly bloated as it’s predecessors.  

If you haven’t all ready tried CDBurnerXP, download and install it!  You will not be sorry.

Links:

CDBurnerXP download

Installation Failed: Please remove CD-ROM and restart the system

Solution: I initially thought that the problem had something to do with an error I received that said, “PCI: BIOS Bug #81[00000000] found” but I was wrong.  Still don’t know what that message is about.  The real solution, of all things, was to download the ISO image from a different source and re-burn the disc.  After that, I installed without any problems.

The server reported an error with the following URL:
http://www.domain.com/xmlrpc.php
500 Internal Server Error

I looked around the Internet and saw that it was related to uploading pictures.  Not very much out there regarding this issue.  One suggestion was to take out any extra blank lines at the end of the xmlrpc.php document, which didn’t work.  I tried reinstalling WordPress without any luck.  Note: All of this began to happen after upgrading to version 2.6.1

Solution:  Found a thread on the wordpress.org forum that had  a suggestion to modify the .htaccess file with the following line:

AddType x-mapp-php5 .php
AddHandler x-mapp-php5 .php 

Did that and all was well, thanks to DocShadow.

Links:

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/201264 (Where I found the solution)

1. Email:
   • The iPhone will only download the entire email message if you choose to view it and have a cell signal or attached via Wi-Fi.  This means that if you don’t have a signal, you will not be able to read an email that hasn’t been previously read.  On my old Treo 750 running Windows Mobile 6, I had an option to choose to download some or the entire email when it gets pushed to my phone; giving me the ability to view mail offline. I looked all over the iPhone and did not see that option.
   • You cannot search your emails or even apply a filter.  Recently, I had to find an email dating back over a year and was forced to browse through hundreds of emails.  This time consuming endeavor wouldn’t have been necessary if I would of had search or the ability to filter by sender, size, keyword, etc…
2. Contacts:
   • Mass contact deletion is not available.  I know there are other ways to do it through your laptop but some on the road won’t have a laptop to perform these workarounds.
3. GPS:
   • No true turn by turn navigation, yet?
   • Map download:  Why is this not an option?  The GPS is great but I get increasingly frustrated with waiting for Google Maps to download and the inability to use the GPS, if I’m out of cell range, because the map won’t download.  It would be nice to have the ability to load a US map onto the iPhone so I could utilize the GPS when cell coverage is lacking.
4. Battery
   • Battery life could be better.  I hear there has been improvement with the 2.1 update but I can’t see a noticeable difference. 
   • Inability to change the battery yourself.  It’s not realistic to expect a road warrior to give up their phone for a couple of days to get the battery replaced.
5. Copy and Paste
   • Still waiting for it!

Would I recommend the iPhone for the enterprise?  Only if you can live with the shortcomings mentioned above.  Right now,  much of the iPhone’s functionality depends on wether it has a signal or not.  To reach it’s full potential, more “out of cell range” functionality is needed.

Have you found any new bug fixes or features worth mentioning?

Making a shortcut:

1. Within Chrome, go to the site that will be a new shortcut.
2. Click on the “Control Current Page” button on the upper right had corner.  
3. Select “Create Application Shortcuts..
4. Choose what kind of shortcut and click on the ‘OK’ button.
5. You’re done!

There has been a site or two that I haven’t been able to create a shortcut for.  I tried to create one on rockymountainnews.com and it would not continue.  Is there something about certain sites that Chrome won’t respond to or is it the site?  What is your favorite Chrome features and/or what don’t you like about Chrome.

I’m assuming that the new software gives you the use of the “Genius” playlist maker, some bug fixes and hoping that copy/paste and mass contact deletion would be available.  As I write this the bug that I’m experiencing is that I can’t access my mail. Both Exchange and my IMAP to a different  server will not come up and when I click on the email icon, I get a white screen and the mail program crashes on me.

This is twice now that I have updated my software and it has either rendered my iPhone useless or with limited use.  If Apple really wants to be an “Enterprise” player, these updates will need to go more smoothly.   Road warriors will ditch their iPhone for something more dependable if bugs like this keep on rearing their ugly head.

UPDATE: After about 20 minutes of turning off the iPhone and reconfiguring the email, the email client is working fine now.  It just started to work.  I don’t think it’s anything that I did and maybe just a bit of patience was needed.  Still no copy/paste and the contact deletion issues are still there.  We’ll see about the improved battery life and possible new GPS features.

UPDATE:  Backing up of the iPhone does seem to be faster now.  It took onlyh about 10 to 20 seconds to backup the unit instead of the minute or so that it used to.  Also it looks like the 3G and the Edge (E) indicators on the iPhone are different.

UPDATE:  Love the Genius and it’s potential.  If you have a lot of indie music, it doesn’t work as well.  I kept getting “Genius is unavailable for the song “song name” error when I choose lesser known artists.  I’m hoping as people keep using this option, it will get better.  So far I have some pretty interesting playlists now.

To create a screenshot of you iPhone’s display, press the sleep/wake and the home button at the same time.  A white flash will appear and then your display comes back to normal.  You will find your pictures in the camera roll or your can explore the iPhone’s storage while it’s connected to your computer.  I found the screenshots within the DCIM folder and they were in .PNG format.  This will also come in handy when I have to start creating tutorials for my clients.  Hope it helps you!