A quick message about the RIAA

The RIAA is working it’s ass off to find money and “protect copyrights.”  Pissing off your customers is not a good way to go.  The best way to solve this problem is to adapt.  We in the computing field can help.  Please get out of your sandbox and get into our world.  Talk to people like this: http://www.cangooglehearme.com, and the You Tube guys, the Google guys, the Digg guys.  There are brilliant, entrepreneurial, energetic people out there that could solve your problem if you let them.  And BTW, I don’t mind helping.  🙂

Update 4/2:  Today Apple and EMI announced that they will sell DRM free music at a $.30 premium.  The music files will be 256 kbps.  This is a great first step.  There is still a long way to go.  http://www.engadget.com/2007/04/02/steve-jobs-and-emi-present-an-exciting-new-digital-offering/

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What’s going to happen to the PC?

I want to begin studying the future of the PC as we know it.  I have a potential answer, but I want to avoid jumping to conclusions.  That wouldn’t be fair to me or you (my beloved reader).  My general feeling is that the PC is headed for the museum, especially in corporate settings.  And if so, what replaces it?  We’ll see if that holds up.

Let’s talk about Virtualization (OS).

I am a passionate advocate of operating system virtualization, especially in the server room.  OS virtualization is probably the most important thing to happen to the server room since Ethernet (in combination with TCP/IP).  How so?  Ethernet changed everything people understood about computers at the time.  It made computers more connected and began to end the chapter of standalone human driven computers.

OS virtualization has begun to do the same thing.  Now you don’t need as many physical computers to do the same amount of work.  Underutilized computers can now be pushed to their limits by maximizing processing power, centralizing storage, and offloading specific functions off of the core system.  I truly believe that there is no greater game changer to computing than OS virtualization.

Benefits of virtualization (mostly based on VMware, and not limited to them):

• Fewer physical computers
• Less underutilized equipment
• Less equipment (nics, processors, memory [in most cases], HBA’s, etc.)
• More OS’s per machine (VMware runs Windows, Linux, Unix, Solaris, Netware.  Run Windows on a Mac, etc.)
• Centralized Storage (this was possible before, but virtualization encourages and makes it cost effective.)
• Improved redundancy, availability, reliability
• Ability to dump “legacy” equipment or migrate that app that no one could rebuild.
• Run a VM across the HW of your choice
• No more HW upgrade headaches (just add compatible machines as needed and hot migrate everything)
• Shared processing, networking, memory.  (That means that you only need 2-3 nics for 10 VM’s instead of 10-15 nic’s for 10 physical machines.)
• Add resources on demand (Need more processing, memory, nic?  Just increase the priority and/or resource share for your VM).
• More environmentally friendly

OK, I think you get the gist.  OS virtualization and server consolidation specifically has many benefits and is the #1 thing you can do right now to improve your computing environment.  Please share your thoughts and feel free to lean on me for advice on your virtualization project.

I have so much to say….

And I don’t know where to begin.  I want to discuss “virtulization” and the virtualization of virtualization, the future of the PC, RIAA hysteria, and many other topics.  Let’s see what I can accomplish on this blog in an hour….

The Internet in 1993

This is an outstanding video of a CBC news clip from 1993 describing “the growing phenomenon of Internet.”   The OP says that this is from the “This year in 1993” DVD.  One funny comment was that “there’s not a lot of cursing or swearing.  There’s not screenfulls of ‘go to hell.'”  lol f5(k1ng n3wb$! 😀

8 March Madness tips for IT Administrators

The NCAA Division I basketball tournament aka March Madness begins this Thursday.  This tournament affects work more than any other sporting event in the US.  The games are played during work hours and the teams are from every part of this country.  Many of  your coworkers will be in the company office pool.  There are several things the diligent IT worker should do to prepare:

1. Fill out your brackets in advance.  You can do it either on paper or online.
2. Join the company office pool.  It’s a good way of knowing which VP’s are in the pool and who you are going to piss off if you turn on your Websense filtering.
3. Make sure you have the software you need when users come begging for Windows Media Player, Flash Player, PDF Reader, Quicktime, or whatever else you’ll need.
4. Keep an eye on your bandwidth.  CBS is streaming the game video, Sirius is streaming the audio, ESPN and You Tube have the highlights.  This is all bandwidth intensive, so be prepared to throttle your bandwidth.
5. Stock up on color toner.  Everyone keeps a copy of their brackets handy.  Where do they get that copy?  Your color printer.
6. Be prepared for phone calls like this: I’m trying to watch some presentation on my computer and it’s not working.  Or Thursday at 11:55am EDT: Is the Internet slow? The Internet in this case refers to cbs.sportsline.com.
7. Finally, follow company policy.  You know your company best.  You also know that when a VP comes begging for something (more like demanding), he/she is creating company policy on demand. Be polite, helpful, and have fun!
8. Go Big East!!!!

WordPress is growing in a hurry

Has anyone else noticed this?  I started this blog about a month ago.  There were under 700,000 blogs at the time.  There are now 762,426.  That’s at least 63,000 new blogs in a month.  That’s incredible growth.  I can understand why people would choose WordPress.  The software is terrific and I don’t think you can get this many great features anywhere else for this price (free).  Keep up the good work WordPress!

Blackberry 8800 part deux

Kristin from Formerly Wiphey pointed out that a Blackberry 8800 is coming out for T-Mobile in April.  I checked the info with my T-Mobile rep and Kristin is correct.  The new T-Mobile Blackberry 8800 is to be named the Blackberry Crimson 8800.  This tip came from my T-Mobile rep who pointed me to the BB Hub website.  The Crimson looks like a slick device.  It’s bigger than the Pearl, and has all the new Blackberry features (camera, video, media card, etc.).  It appears that the source for all of this info is The Boy Genius Report so make sure to check them out.

Life has weird ways of sending messages sometimes and this is one of those times.  I posted something about the Blackberry 8800 a few days ago.  The very next day I get a call from my Network Admin saying that he found a Cingular Blackberry 8800 laying on 6th Ave. (NYC).  He asked if he should bring it up to the office.  I said YES!!!  I wanted to check it out and possibly return it to it’s owner. 

Update: The Blackberry 8800 is NOT the Blackberry Crimson.

More on the other side of the split…

Great Firewall of China

I found a website that tells you if a website is available inside of China.  It’s called Great Firewall of China.  I love that name.  I checked my company’s website and it’s not available.  Hmmm.  Anyway, enjoy… http://www.greatfirewallofchina.org.

Sorry about the formatting of this page.

I checked my site today and saw that it’s all messed up.  The formatting and fonts are messed up.  I’m in the process of troubleshooting.  I may change the theme temporarily.  I’m very sorry about this, but unfortunately it’s beyond my control.  Thanks!

Update: It appears to be a problem with the global theme.  I have checked other blogs using the same theme and they are experiencing the problem.

 Update 2: Fixed.  Thanks WordPress!