It’s always amusing dealing with resellers, vendors, manufacturers, and the other assorted shysters.

My company is installing a second SAN and VMware environment. Our integrator is a California based company that used to make their own storage hardware. They’re tight with EMC. I like them. They have worked hard for us, though there have been some rough spots.

We used these guys for our first VM-SAN installation. They did something dopey by forgetting to put SnapView in the Statement of Work (SOW). I have had to chase them down to finish the installation. It’s a year later and it’s still not done. One big reason is that we haven’t needed it and another is we were both procrastinating. So this new project has come around and everyone is being extremely thorough.

My company needs to begin installation of this new environment next week. My boss, their PM’s, and me have been trying to nail down the SOW all week. We were getting to late in the day Friday and they were sending messages saying that we needed to sign the SOW. My boss and I felt good about the SOW overall and we’re ready to sign. My boss signs the SOW and fax’s it to them. Three minutes later they send a message saying “I guess we scared him into signing. Another one for the good team.” Only problem for them was that they forgot to remove me from the “team” email.

I feel a little insulted by this. They didn’t scare us into anything. We were working hard to get it correct. We are getting everything we want; not out of fear and coercion. I know it’s naive, but I feel that they are our partner and that our success is their success. Taking care of us should be #1 for them.

Why am I sharing this? Probably because I’m annoyed. I’ll have to talk to my “teammates” on Monday.

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Nomadishere: 8 Things Intelligent People, Geeks and Nerds Need To Work Happily

I really enjoyed this article.  Probably because I agree with the 8 things.

http://nomadishere.com/2007/03/12/a-note-to-employers-8-things-intelligent-people-geeks-and-nerds-need-to-work-happy/

InfoWorld is going out of print

I just received my copy of InfoWorld.  To my dismay I found out it’s the final print issue. They will be strictly web based from now on.  I love InfoWorld magazine and am sad to see it go.  It was one of the only weekly’s with consistantly high quality, relevant info.  Of course, I had plenty of time to read it because I have a long commute by train.

 Bye Bye InfoWorld

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/

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!!!!

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.

Fellow WordPresser: Tech News In Greek

My parents are from Greece.  They came to the US some years ago and had three kids.  I was kid ένα.  I went to Greek school and can read and write in Greek.  I found a Greek blog that I want to share.  It’s called Tech News In Greek.  It’s all in Greek and it’s all tech.  Enjoy!

Google Apps are pretty neat!

I have been playing with the Google Apps.  They are super cool.  The two featured apps are Documents and Spreadsheets.  They are web based Word and Excel type applications.  They allow users to use the basic functionality of Word and Excel without the costly licenses or bloated software.  Also, they are available to all users because they are OS agnostic.  Another cool feature is that you can save to web.  That means that if you create a document at work, you can have it at home.  There is not the same need to worry about versioning. 

Other cool features include the ability to upload documents, save to Word/PDF/HTML/OpenOffice/Excel/CSV, export to Blog including WordPress, collaborate with other Google Apps users, and much more.  Check it out.

 Also check out an interesting article about Google Apps from IDG called Google Apps upgrade threaten Office.

InfoWorld: Smokers may be the weak IT security link

Oh boy.  Don’t let your boss see this. 

It may sound slightly far-fetched. But a penetration tester from NTA Monitor, a company based in Rochester, England, gained access to a professional services company outside London that way, said Roy Hills, technical director.

The company hired NTA to test if it was possible to get inside the premises without proper identification, Hills said. The penetration tester waited until the smokers finished their break, then slipped in through the unlocked door, which wasn’t the main one but publicly accessible.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/16/HNsmokersweaklink_1.html?source=NLC-TB&cgd=2007-02-16

Put down those butts and get back to work.