Less about why and more about how...

Navigating your complete  computer set up is much more difficult with the fast pace of change that has been brought about by the mobile and cloud introduction.

I have been surfing around a bit this morning reviewing and exploring the various things I have access to now  in my personal domain...  cloud folders, multiple blogs that need posting to, virtual machines and their resource limits..  various things.  It is a lot to keep track of.

What are the important take a ways? 

1. The first is that practice is critical in developing skill.  This is true for sports, it is true in ones profession and craft.  It is true in computing.
2. Inter-Relations of systems is a critical path.  Once easy to establish within a office domain, the mobile web and the potential need for granulated sharing with others brings complications.  Solutions exist but not without cost and administration.
3. The goal is being effective.  Administration may be defined as part of this goal but ultimately it is the content, the creation of content, the access to that content and the effect of that content that ultimately matters most.
4. Administration is important but it has its own cost.  It likewise has its own benefit and properly done it more than makes up for the investment.
5. Exploration of possibilities and settling on directions is a bifurcated process.

And to leave the Whazup intact, this one can be directed at me.  What is that Mind Map and how is it Navigated.  More to follow.

Older Post... perhaps interesting still "Curious to see how Microsoft Hangs their Hat"

If you go to Best Buy you can buy MS Office "Home and Student" version for about $130. If you go to Ebay you can find a 3 user license of the same for $79 and even less...

Sure it is worth shopping around. I think the other subject is how MS hangs its hook. Getting folks in their new system, all surrounded by their new "Web Space" of Live.com and they get us hooked. Their whole angle with these things is to have a massive user base that no one can ignore. If all this forces the lawyers and doctors of the world to ante up $500 a piece for their version of Office Ultimate they have won their game.

I am trying not to. I do like MS OneNote 2007. I bought that and it works very well. This comes, by the way, in the lowly "Home and Student" version which is critically missing Access Database but has the other "more essentials" of Word, Excel and Powerpoint (yes also OneNote).

Remember the Slogan "Just Say No"... I try to say that about MS. They have a few great sofware pieces. FoxPro, which they are discontinuing, they purchased from Fox Software many many years ago. It is a wonderful piece and worth getting a hold of before it is gone. Their angle here is to hook everyone on SQL Server. They are doing a good job of it... but I am trying not to go there. I have the advantage of not really knowing SQL syntax and having a great base w/ FoxPro... but like I said "Just Say No" to MS.

The alternatives, it seems to me, right now are OpenOffice and Google Docs. Both are basically free. It is hard to miss the advertising in Gmail (but worth trying to find a way). The rest of the system should at least be explored. And OpenOffice, all I can say, lets all get it done and jump through the hoops. MS is making their software awful "cozy" w/ their transparencies and "silverlight" system. It is on the surface. Just emulate it. Don't get hooked. It will cost forever.

I will let you know when I am MS free. I don't know when that might be, if ever.

PogoPlug is pulling a Fast One (or is it pulling the Plug?)

Though they advertise:

No fees, no limits

Pogoplug devices give you unlimited cloud storage from the security of your home or office for a one-time fee.

It appears that PogoPlug is changing their program and trying to sell the software that they included with their HD Sharing Devices originally.  They can't even "speak straight" on their web page  https://pogoplug.com/devices

Don't trust them and don't upgrade. Your time is worth more than you know.

Dot Net installs as part of Program installs has got to Go

The last time I loaded a program that required Microsoft's .NET framework my boot drive was corrupted. Here I am again trying to install the program and it is taking Forever and I am nervous whether, again, it will corrupt my XP system.

Java here and there is bad enough but this is a veritable Rainforest of Code that is loading, and just so I can get to a PogoPlug drive.. totally inappropriate programming technique. I don't understand that PogoPlug can have a Mac, Windows and Linux version of their software and they have to use .NET on the Windows install.

There are other irritations but this is really a big one for me!

Trying to give the Postal Service money seems not enough for them.. simply wanting to provide quotes for postage

We use a very popular "open source" E-Commerce system called Magento. Magento is now owned by Ebay and though community supported it is also commercially supported in no small way.

For using FedEx all we need to do is put our account number in the back end administration panel and be sure that products have a weight assigned to them and shipping quotes and costs are provided in Magento.

So, some of the things we ship are small and the most affordable way to deliver them to customers is via the postal service. However, if we want to "enable" the "built in" USPS package we have to first "register" with USPS as a developer, then go through a series of very arcane tests of our system that are designed for people actually "coding" a system rather than just implementing the system. On their confirmation email we get, among a whole bunch of "you shalls" a User ID, Password, Phone number to call and Email address to send communications to.

They say that emails will be responded to (they don't say when)... I am 3 days now into waiting, and have sent 2 follow up emails. The Phone number provided is not answered even though the hours given are 7:00AM to 11:00PM Eastern Time.

Really I am just trying to provide shipping quotes. It seems our Postal Service is in need of more revenue. That said, they sure don't want to have it be easy for their customers to give it to them.

And on top of all this, they state, in no uncertain terms:

The Web Tools User ID provided is for you and your company to use when requesting data via the Internet from the U.S. Postal Service API servers. This unique User ID cannot be shared with others outside your organization, nor is it to be packaged and distributed or sold to other individuals, businesses or e-commerce web site entities.

It sure is a pity for the poor service provider whos business it is to help companies set systems set up.. they will need to repeat this process every time a new system is set up.

I suppose I am also curious why the email does not actually come from the Postal Service, but comes from "registration@shippingapis.com" and asks that emails be sent to "uspstechsupport@esecurecare.net" ... Outsourcing to No End.

Blog This! | Blogger Buzz

Blog This! | Blogger Buzz:

'via Blog this'

Too bad it is just Blogger Specific.. But sure goes quick.

By this I mean, the Blog-This Extension that connects to blogger.com.. Link is above.

After this post I went and found a similar plug in that ties into some other content pages... All told these methods are easier than going to a web site, opening a new post, writing etc. If one can work in an extension the subject is at hand while one is actually writing... rather than this blank white sheet on this edit page I find myself in here.

You think you need one Server do you?

If you read the marketing spiel a Windows Server will do 1000 things. If you try to use a Windows server however you may easily find that you need, in fact 2, 3, 5 or 10 Servers to do all the work that is asked of it.

Take a look at the Terminal Server Farm here:

I dont even know if the Domain Controller is listed, much less the backup Domain Controller.

One Server for Licensing. One Server for Load Balancing, etc etc. Dont forget DNS. Don't forget Wins. Don't forget.. ad infinitum.

All this takes a lot of time to implement, not to speak of hardware and licensing expense. And then there is power. Virtualization helps, but the last I read, certain roles are not recomended for virtualization.. Domain Controlling is one. The Slowness of Virtualization would call into question having your Terminal Server be virtualized. Maybe the licensing server. Perhaps a backup Domain Controller, the DNS server etc (why are those not part of the primary Domain Control Role anyway). I suppose they generally are, but redundancy makes its call.

Terminal Services are, for sure, great tools. A functioning server can generally be accomplished more easily than the picture shows. Still, some very high costs are out there, especially if you are pushing the OS up from the client level.

Time to research VNC again.