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It’s Been a While January 13, 2009

Posted by AlisterComputeron in Blogging.
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Boy, it’s been a while since I’ve posted to my blog. But that’s kinda how I roll. I’ll get up for posting for a while, then leave it, and then have a bunch of stuff to say again.

So I’m back, and will have some stuff to share soon. Hey how about this slick new WordPress Dashboard?

Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008 September 25, 2008

Posted by AlisterComputeron in Blogging, Internet, News, Technology.
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Technorati: State of the Blogosphere 2008

Admittedly, I didn’t give my previous post on Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere adequate coverage.  I found an article about the survey at Ars Technica, thought it was interesting, and quickly shared it.

But then I read the survey, and it’s got some really interesting stuff.  Technorati covers five different topics and includes and introduction in their survey:

The survey has some great insight for those who want to improve their blog, increase traffic, or possibly even generate income from a blog.  The survey separates the top 10% of blogs, or the top 100 from the rest of the field and compares what top bloggers are doing differently from the rest of the blogosphere.  Charts and graphs give a visual representation of the differences between top bloggers and the rest of us.

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The Blogging Community Lives On September 25, 2008

Posted by AlisterComputeron in Blogging, Internet, News, Technology.
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The blogosphere is alive and well.  Ars Technica reported that according to Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008, the number of blogs continues to growth, albiet at a slower rate.

Technorati says that it has tracked 133 million blogs since 2002.  It says it is tracking 900,000 new posts each day, which is down from 1.5 million posts from March 2007.

The majority of bloggers surveyed say they advertised their blog, and are generating revenue from blogging.  The median revenue, though, is around $200, but if you hit the big time, i.e., have 100,000 unique visitors each month, you could be making $6,000 to over $75K.

Most people blog for fun, but 42% said they would like to make money from their blog eventually.

A Perfect Storm of Backup Failures September 6, 2008

Posted by AlisterComputeron in Blogging, Technology.
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It’s been a rough few weeks for this IT Superhero.  I was dealing with the on-again, off-again, and back on-again terminal services project.  And right in the middle of pulling the trigger to kill the project, my file server crashed, corrupting three disks in the RAID array.  No problem, I had backups, but it was going to take over 30 hours to fully restore the server from the disk-to-disk backup system.

But hold on a minute.  Finance needed their stuff back so they could continue working on next year’s budget and get the budget information out to all the departments.  Being the IT and customer service superhero that I am, I suggest that I can pause the restore job, kick off another job to get their stuff restored, and then restart the main job.  What’s another hour when we’re talking about 30, right?  It would have worked except…

Stopping the restore job locked up the disk-to-disk backup server.  For a while it wouldn’t boot back up.  And when it finally did, all the backup snapshots had been deleted by the Windows system, except the most recent.  My most recent tape backup was from two weeks ago.  Any files that were open at the time of the crash were lost, unless they were on the two-week old tape.  It SUCKS having to tell a user that their file is lost.

Oh, and it just keeps getting better.  All of the scanned images from the week of the crash for this one department were lost.  Why?  Because while I was doing full backups on the weekends, and differentials during the week, Windows – for some reason – was not marking new files as archivable.  So those images, whose original paper docs were being shredded after scanning, were gone.

Amazingly, I still have a job.  But this was like a perfect storm of backup failures.  There’s was no way of knowing the file server would crash, corrupting the entire disk array, plus having the backup server lock up and delete all the snapshots, plus find out that the tape backup wasn’t capturing the scanned images on the daily differential backup.

The CTO said as long as we learn from these mistakes, we’ll get through it.  I’ve plugged the holes in the backup system.  I’m now doing full daily backups of the scanned images.  I’m also doing a full backup to tape of the same data being backed up by the disk-to-disk system, as well as daily differentials.

Sometimes you don’t know how good your processes and procedures are until they are needed in a real-world scenario.  We didn’t lose that much; as luck would have, another department had copies of the paper originals from the scanned docs, and there were only a couple (literally) of files that were completely lost.

Now that this storm has passed, I hope to get back to regular blogging.

A Little Break August 20, 2008

Posted by AlisterComputeron in Blogging, Off-Topic.
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Well, I’ve taken a short break from blogging, but I’m hoping to get back into regularly posting about whatever’s on my mind.

The wife and I took a trip to Grand Junction, CO last weekend.  We toured the heart of Colorado wine country in and around Palisade.  There are some great wineries in the area, and we lugged home about three cases of wine.  My wife loves Syrah and Shiraz, so I think we got a bottle at nearly each winery we visited.  We came home with several bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, and a delicious little find – the Cabernet Franc – that I haven’t seen in the stores (maybe cuz I haven’t been looking for it).  Anyhoo, Cab Franc is widely used in blends, but vintners are starting to use it on its own.  It’s a bit more mellow than the Cab Sauvignon, but still has a lot of intensity.

We also picked up a few novelty varietals, too.  I found a great Merlot blush at a vineyard way off the beaten path that will be great chilled on a warm summer afternoon.  I don’t usually care for the sweeter wines, but this is quite tasty.

At the same vineyard that we got the Merlot blush, the vintner was was doing a barrel tasting of a Merlot that had been in the barrel for about six months.  My wife and I were lucky enough to get to sample this young wine.  Oh my gosh, it was fantastic!  He said he was going to bottle it early next year.

The prices were very reasonable, too.  When you can get a great bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon for under 20 bucks, it makes it easy to build up a collection.

The great thing about wine tasting is that you get to try it before you buy it.  So everything we came home with is stuff we know we like.  I’ve spent the better part of many trips to the liquor store standing in the isle trying to decide between this one or that one.  Without being able to taste it first, or not having a recommendation on which to buy, it’s a kind of a game of chance.  Usually the odds are in your favor, but when you spend 15 bucks for a bottle and it’s not what you expect, it’s disappointing.

So now I have to get a new rack for my wine cellar (more accurately, an empty part of my basement).  And I’m looking forward to the next occasion when I can enjoy another great bottle.  Wednesday can be an occasion, right?

What Linux Needs to do to go Mainstream – Part 2 August 11, 2008

Posted by AlisterComputeron in Blogging, Linux, Mac, Technology, Windows.
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In Part 1 of this post gave some suggestions on what the Linux community could do to help make their OS more mainstream. Linux has a large, loyal following, and with good reason: the OS is solid, secure, and free, among other things.  But the Linux crowd is made up of mainly users who are computer savvy.  I hear talk all the time that Linux needs to weaken Microsoft’s dominance of the OS market.  It’s not going to happen with Linux in its current form.  It’s come a long way, but there’s still a lot more to do.

So here are a few more things that, from my experience, need to be improved to make Linux more appealing for average users.

Less Features, More Usability
I like that some of the Linux distos come packed with apps, and fancy features for customizing the desktop and enhancing the user experience.  But more effort needs to be put into making the OS easier to use rather than packing it with more features.  Adding more features to the OS is fine fordistros that could be aimed at power users.  But simplicity needs to be built in to the OS to attract average users, the ones who don’t have the expertise or time to go looking for the right drivers, for instance, and then figure out how to install them. 

It’s a – perhaps – sad fact that average users don’t engage more computer self-help.  There have been more than a few times when I’ve been called to a user’s desk to assist with a Word, Excel, browser, this, or that problem.  I don’t know everything there is to know about these apps and what the user wants to do with them.  So with the user watching me, I open the help menu, search for what the user wants help with, and then explain what I just read to user.  The user could have resolved his own problem by consulting the help menu himself.  I’m a little to blame, too, for codling the user, but I don’t think it’s good customer service to say to the user, “look it up in the help menu.”

So it’s a stretch to think that users will search the user forums for answers.  Out of the box, Linux needs to be ready to go, loaded with the coolest apps, the right drivers, and an intuitive interface.

Make it less Geeky
I’m not trying to hurt anybody’s feelings here, but think about it for a moment.  Windows is the OS for the vast majority of users.  Mac OS X is the OS for the hip, creative types.  Linux is the OS for the computers geeks.  If Linux is to become mainstream, the Linux community needs to get rid of terms like dependencies, packages, and file systems. Terms like that have no meaning to a mainstream user, whether it’s a home computer or a company computer.  In other words, dumb-down these terms.

Even Windows can be geeky, though.  I often have to hand-hold users through something simple like connecting to shared folders: “Click Start, click Run, type back slash – no, the slash above the Enter key” – you get the idea.

I suggest hiding the all the start-up and shut-up messages that appear on the screen, too.  These might be cool for the techies, but they’ll surely confuse normal users.

Keep the terminal program handy, but don’t ever require users to have to use the command line.  Streamline software downloads and installations, driver configuration, and updates to a few clicks on the GUI.  Entering commands in a terminal windows is the ultimate in computer-geekness, reminiscent of Mathew Broderick in War Games.  That little nerd saved the world from nuclear holocaust with his command line skills.  Granted, he nearly caused nuclear holocaust with his hacking skills.  The point is, users don’t want to be Mathew Broderick; they’d rather be those two dudes who made Kelly LeBrock with their computer.  (Can you guess how old I am?)

Make Linux more like the Mac
I think the biggest move that would make Linux successful in the mainstream is tight integration of Linux with specific sets of hardware.  Hardware makers should customize the Linux distro to their hardware and lock it down.  But doesn’t that sound a little Apple-like, and very non open source?  One reason that Mac OS works so well, is because it’s tightly integrated with the hardware.  One reason Windows has problems is that it tries to support every piece of hardware.

But tight integration between hardware and Linux could work and still foster the spirit of the open community.  A distro like the popular Ubuntu, has been customized by Dell to run on Dell computers, but the software can still be downloaded in its original release from the Ubuntu web site.  Dell has been selling select PCs with Ubuntu pre-installed but other manufacturers – HP, Acer, etc. – need to take this approach, too.  And I’m not talking about putting Linux on stripped-down PCs so they can be sold at Wal-Mart at the sub-$300 or sub-$200 price point.  I’m talking about reputable manufacturers selling well-equipped Linux machines in outlets like Best Buy and Circuit City.  If the Linux community is serious about selling Linux computers, get them on the shelves of the big box electronics stores, and put brand on the case that people have heard of.

Alternatively, a major Linux shop, like Red Hat, could sell computers with its distro installed and specially configured for the hardware it’s selling.  IBM announced at LinuxWorld that it wants to develop a Linux distro integrated with Lotus Notes and Lotus Symphony to take on Microsoft in the battle for corporate desktops.  I believe IBM needs to sell hardware with its Linux loaded to have a chance at achieving its goal.  They can’t expect to drop a Linux CD on IT departments and expect the IT dudes to figure out how to make the software work with the hardware.

There is progress in this area, though.  In some cases, Linux has been highly customized to support a specific device.  Amazon’s Kindle is one such product.  Andnetbooks are a hardware platform that is popular for Linux.  According to Ars Techica, Intel’s Moblin project is a Linux-based software platform that can be used in several devices based on Intel’s Atom processor.  The Atom and Moblin “provide a unified hardware and software platform that can be adopted almost anywhere.”

What the Linux Community has gotten Right so Far
I’m going to finish this post by briefly outlining what I think Linux has done well right so far.

It’s Lean
I like that I can install Ubuntu on a 5GB partition and still have a little room left.  I have an old PC that I got from work that I want to turn into an “Internet PC.”  At one point during my experimentation, I had Unbuntu andXubuntu installed on a 10GB hard drive in two 5GB partitions.

It uses RAM efficiently
There are no unnecessary processes running in the background of the Linux OS.  I don’t have anti-virus software and stupid adware/spyware scanners taking up valuable resources.  My installation for my Internet PC experiment runs a Pentium III PC with just 256MB RAM.  Granted, it doesn’t run well, but good enough for web browsing and web apps.

Packed with Apps with Plenty More Available
The Linux community has developed some awesome programs that are completely free.  Many of these programs are as good, if not better than, their commercial equivalents.

Cost
I’ve heard some Linux nay-sayers say that you get what you pay for.  Using Ubuntun as my example flavor again, users get, for free, a rock-solid, stable, secure OS that is constantly updated by a dedicated community of developers who love computers.  That sounds like a great value to me.

Conclusion
I want to see Linux succeed, because I like choice.  I don’t like Microsoft’s dominance of the OS market.  Through their complacency, technology has not advanced as it should have.  They rested on the success of Windows 95, and didn’t innovate their OS; Windows Vista is layered on top of some of that old Windows 95 technology.  Additionally, Microsoft’s disregard for security has made the being on the Internet more dangerous than it should be, and corporations are forced to spend money on securing their networks becauseMicrsoft’s OS’s have more holes than a cheap hooker’s fishnet stockings.  Windows is like a middle-aged man who hasn’t taken care of himself: he’s overweight; he’s slow; he’s no longer hip; he’s no longer good looking; his attempts at self-improvement are half-hearted at best, because he just doesn’t care.

Come on Linux legions! I implore you to show the masses what your superior OS can do.  Show them that you can make a desktop OS that’s more stable, more secure, and more user-friendly than Windows could ever dream to be.  Make a free OS that appeals to average, ordinary users.

Keep those Comments Coming – Part 2 up Soon August 11, 2008

Posted by AlisterComputeron in Blogging, Linux, Technology.
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Many thanks to everyone who read Part 1 of my post about what Linux can do to go mainstream, and special thanks to those who commented.  This was one of my post popular posts, and I welcome the feedback, and even the challenge by some to my ideas.  It’s great having people comment and challenge me, because it forces me to defend my stance, and to consider an issue from a completely different point of view.  I’m certainly not an expert or even an intermediate user of Linux.  So in a way, this is a learning opportunity for me.  But I’m also presenting my argument for the perspective of the average user, you know, the person who buys a computer to use Word and browse the Web.

I always try to reply to each comment, because if you took the time to post a comment, I want you to know I appreciate it.

I hope to have Part 2 of that post up on Tuesday.  I have some edits that I need to do, and judging from the feedback, I better have my thoughts in order, or I’ll end up looking stupid.  Of course, that may be the case, regarless of how well organized my thoughts are.

What Linux Needs to do to go Mainstream – Part 1 August 10, 2008

Posted by AlisterComputeron in Blogging, Linux, Mac, Technology, Windows.
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The news from LinuxWorld got me psyched to check out Linux again to see what has changed in the year or so since I last experimented with the alternative OS. On a few occasions over the years, I’ve tried some various flavors of Linux. The things that have frustrated me the most about Linux are installing applications, hardware compatibility, and general usability of the OS. So what did I find this time around? Well, not much has changed. Linux is still the geeky OS that it’s always been. It’s an OS that has huge potential, but because of the openness of it, there is no single company or organization with a clear road map to get Linux into the mainstream. Canonical, the commercial sponsor of the Ubuntu distribution, has made some great strides with usability, but it’s still not ready for mainstream usage.

IBM has plans to develop a Linux version to be a viable alternative to Microsoft. Red Hat has done a good job of getting into some corporate data centers. And there have been some attempts to build inexpensive PCs for consumers to be sold at discount outlets like Wal-Mart.

These are all fine ambitions and accomplishments, but more needs to be done. So in a two-part series, here’s my two cents on what the Linux community needs to do to take their operating system from the systems of hard-core computer nerds to the desktops and notebooks of corporate and home users (without having to sell $199 PCs at Wal-Mart).

Installing Applications: An Exercise in Frustration
Installing Linux, itself, is fairly straight-forward, though I’m not sure the average user would understand the creating of partitions and setting up the file system stuff. But the installer makes taking the defaults easy. And, really, how many mainstream users have installed Windows? So that’s really a non-issue.

But installing apps that aren’t part of the repository can drive all the but truly nerdy completely insane. I was using the previous version of Xubuntu, a scaled-down version of Ubuntu for use on older PCs. It had version 2 of Firefox, and I wanted to upgrade it to Firefox 3. The new version wasn’t available in the repository, so I attempted to download it from Firefox’s download site. The download was successful, but that’s as far as I got. It’s been my experience that there’s no “setup.exe ” file contained with Linux apps, and forget about the ultra-easy installation of some apps on Mac that simply require the user to drag and drop an icon to the Applications folder.

Because I’m a huge fan of Firefox 3, I installed the latest version of Xubuntu, which has Firefox 3. Then I decided that I wanted Google Desktop and Google Gadgets for my desktop. I was able to find a blog post explaining how to install Google Gadgets. I got the desktop gadgets installed, but it required me to use the command line. That’s not a problem for experienced users, but image what that would be like for a typical user.

There are some great apps available for Linux, but not all of them are available through the software repository. Linux developers need to standardize the file system among the distros, and then standardize a way to install apps in a way that users are accustomed to in Windows or Mac OS X.

I’ll present some more suggestions in Part 2 of this post, including an idea to be more like the Mac.

Twitter and the Art of being Succinct August 2, 2008

Posted by AlisterComputeron in Blogging, Internet, Random Thoughts, Technology.
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When I was in school, I never had a problem filing an essay with the required amount of words.  Write a two page essay (back in the day it was hand-written) on what freedom means to me.  No problem.  My friends would get me to help them write their papers, because they knew I could fluff it up with my verbose writing style.  I also had a knack for making what I wrote seem like I knew what I was talking about.  Essay exams were my forte.  I could simply pay attention in literature class, not read any of the stories, and ace the essay exams.  My results on multiple tests, however, were disastrous.

Fast forward now to the later part of the first decade of the 21st century (see how I made the preceding phrase unnecessarily long), and one finds an enormous amount of information in text form.  News, blogs, marketing material, how to’s, encyclopedias, discussion boards, instant messages, email, and so on.  It’s all in text, and it’s all at our finger tips.  And there’s so much of it.

I’ve been using Twitter, the microblogging text service for about a week.  In case you didn’t know, with Twitter you send a message, or Tweet, through a web interface or via text message.  Each tweet is limited to 140 characters, standard text message size.  On one hand Twitter just adds to the clutter of our already-cluttered lives.  Throughout the days last week, I would pause briefly to see what my fellow tweeters were up to.  I read an interest series of Tweets from a Congressman as the House of Representatives was letting out for a five-week vacation.  I’ve been following Barack Obama’s campaign via twitter.  One guy picked up an infant for foster care from the department of human services.  He even had a link to a pic of the “new arrival.”

It’s interesting to me, having no problem expressing myself through the written word, that we can actually say what we need to say in just 140 characters.  I sent some tweets last week, and noted that several of mine came very close to the 140 character max.  When you send a tweet from Twitter’s web site, there is a counter with the message box that counts down the number of characters you have remaining for that tweet.  When you get below 10 characters left, the number turns red.  I’m having a little trouble adapting in the Twitter world so far.  Maybe that’s why I maintain a blog: so all my thought can spill out in text on a computer screen and I don’t have any restrictions.

I’m going to continue using Twitter for at least a few more weeks.  If nothing else, it’s a neat way to people-watch.  But I wonder as I continue to use Twitter if I will get better at getting my thought out in fewer and fewer characters.  And I also wonder if being limited only 140 charactes per thought will eventually affect the length of my blog posts.

Blogging from my Smartphone July 31, 2008

Posted by AlisterComputeron in Blogging, Mobility, Smartphone, Technology.
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For those times when you really need to blog but don’t have a computer, and 140 characters on Twitter just won’t do, you can blog from your mobile device.

I’m blogging this post from my Moto Q, more just to see how it works and what it can do than actualy share information. In fact, I have my MacBook sitting on my lap while I carefully and slowly create this post.

Blogging from my smartphone is not something I’ll do reguarly, but it’s nice to know that I can. Wow! I can’t believe it took this long to type such a short post.