First, the application ran on a computer, isolated.
Second, the application ran on a computer, had its back end on a server and information was shared.
Then the application ran on as a web page, on a server.
What’s next? The application runs on the cloud.
So is the cloud an evolution of the second phase of the application’s evolution, or the third phase? Is the cloud a collection of resources or is the cloud a way an application behaves?
Google is betting one way. VMware the other.
This is a little bit of a personal crusade of mine – ethanol fuel, or E10, is not good for your vehicle and not good for the environment. It’s also a dud from a personal finance perspective, in that it costs you more in the long run.
Coverage (none of these are new):
Why a personal crusade? My car went through two fuel pumps in 11 months while I was running it on E10. The particular model submerges the fuel pump in the tank, which accelerated the corrision that ethanol causes.
Huge, complicated software products often tout having a single admin console as a benefit. Sounds great, and the marketing makes it sound good.
Think about this for a minute: Do you use the same application to write documents as to build spreadsheets? Do you work with your email from your FTP client?
Specific tasks call for specific applications or UIs. There is no extra benefit to having a single console for multiple products over single purpose consoles with solutions that integrate on the back end.
Of course, the counterpart of this is having multiple consoles for the same product (as those familiar with Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 would be familar with) – that’s just plain wrong.
As far as software goes, I’ve been thinking about how IT choose tools to use in their environment – whether backup, security, application delivery or email.
After checking which software ticks the boxes, there should be another major factor in the decision: How long will it take before we can use this? In other words, what is our time to benefit? The time to benefit can have a very significant impact on the ultimate ROI of a solution, even if specific figures are difficult to measure.
If one option requires that you send each administrator that will be looking after it on a week long training course; whereas the other option can be installed and in use in under an hour, clearly the easier to use software is better in this regard.
I have a Dell M1330, which has generally been a great little laptop (aside from the nVidia graphics card blowing up one day).
Now at not quite 13 months of age the battery is pretty much dead. Kaput. Goneski. What used to be 3 – 4 hours of wireless productivity has shrunk to less than one, and is getting less by the day.
I’ve ordered a new battery – luckily, work gets to pay for it, as it’s a work machine – but I’ve got to say I’m a little disappointed. My old Dell Inspiron 6000 is still going strong with a couple of hours of battery life and it’s approaching four years old.
Makes me want one of those new Macbook Pro’s. Seven hours of wireless productivity and five year battery life? Yes please.
After weightlifting for some time in my crazy Vibram barefooting shoes, I’m finding that I’m hitting new peaks and busting through quite a few plateaus I’ve had for well over a year now. I became convinced it was the shoes when I trained in sneakers a few times around a month ago, and found that my squat and deadlift were very unstable compared to how they are “barefoot”.
It looks like I’m not the only one that things so – check out this article on barefoot strength at T-Nation.com.
The only negative with the Vibram’s is that they are unique, so you do need to be the kind of person who’s not afraid to differ a bit from the norm.
Quest Software (Vizioncore‘s parent company, my employer) have released a PowerPack for VMware Infrastructure management for PowerGUI. It’s a freebie.
What can you do with it? Easily automate manual tasks in your VMware Infrastructure using a GUI rather than writing scripts.
Check out Scott Herold’s blog post for more info about it and an introductory tour.
I finished my 2 day Q-Ride training course today, and got my RE class motorcycle license. I did it through Pro Ride, and can’t say enough for how awesome the instructors there are.
The next thing to do is get some gear and a bike. The bike has to be a 250cc (RE class). Current thoughts? CBR250RR, VTR250, Bandit or one of the Kawasaki EX250 variants.
It’s getting pretty close to another year coming to a close. All in all, it’s been a good year. I’ve made some new friends, rediscovered my passion for BJJ, and developed professionally. I’m also closer than I’ve ever been to my dream of riding a motorcycle.
Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my 2008, I hope you’ve had a great year so far as well. Enjoy your Christmas and New Year.
It’s about time. Now if they could get their act together and officially support Vista x64 (even though it works), that would be really something.
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