Best of the blogs: Curious to see how many so-called new Mac OS X features he could reproduce under Windows Vista, Randall Kennedy set about focusing on Time Machine. “For the first time in years I was actually tempted to drop my tried-and-true manual approach (basically, the equivalent of xcopy with some additional steps) and trust my precious data to Microsoft,” Kennedy writes in this Enterprise Desktop post. The story, of course, doesn’t end there. “My odyssey into Vista’s backup purgatory was just beginning. You see, shortly after my brush with apparent backup ecstasy, I made a disturbing discovery.” From the Test Center: With the Internet Application Gateway 2007, an SSL VPN Microsoft acquired along with Whale Communications last year, Microsoft has landed a winner, asserts Keith Schultz. “The total package makes one flexible yet secure solution for remote access to the enterprise. The end-point control is one of the best going, but full functionality is limited to Windows and Internet Explorer clients. Same thing for network-level remote access — it’s available for non-Windows platforms, but to get the total package it requires IE and ActiveX. Along with Juniper and F5, admins should give Microsoft IAG a look when SSL VPNs come knockin’ at their door.” Read the full review. Video: At the top of The Week Ahead with Gina Smith is Oracle’s bid to buy BEA Systems. “Oracle is now even dissing BEA,” Smith explains. Also, Nokia holds a mashup conference, Salesforce.com pushes out its Winter ’08 edition and changes the name of its platform, and Cringe weighs in on AT&T’s perplexing pact with Napster. The news beat: Microsoft builds a ‘custom skin’ for the new T-Mobile Shadow phones expected today. Michael Dell hints at more and bigger acquisitions, as well as forthcoming x86-based wares. IBM details SOA Healthcheck workshops with specialized diagnostics and triage capabilities to recommend cures for problem areas. And since BEA let Oracle’s acquisition bid expire, BEA’s largest stock owner, Carl Icahn, demands that BEA shareholders get a vote on Oracle’s offer. Software Development