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From the Jetsons to Blade Runner, just about any vision of “life in the future” always features some kind of videoconferencing. Well, that future may be upon us already. Even in the face of a worldwide recession, the enterprise videoconferencing market grew 16.7% for 2009, over 2008. A study published recently by IDC predicts that these revenues will grow from $1.9 billion in 2009 to over $8.7 billion in 2014.
While analysts share with us their bravest forecasts concerning the growth of the mobile market, Google is doing its best to stake its future on mobile devices right now. The head of the European Google, John Herlihy, in an interview with the SiliconRepublic Web site, said that in about three years from now traditional desktop systems would lose their value for Google, because most search inquiries would be made from mobile devices. We can already see this happening in Japan, a country which Google considers to be a pioneer in showing where informational infrastructure is going.
Vaporware: It’s the venerable term for products which are announced but never reach the market. What lessons can IT pros learn from the mistakes that developers of vaporware make? How can you make sure that your company’s important products aren’t vaporous?
I can’t think of a better example of vaporware than Duke Nukem Forever, a game which has been repeatedly announced since 1997 and has never even gotten close to reaching the market. (It probably never will, since all developers working on this project were fired). The game’s developers made two major mistakes, with plenty of lessons for everybody dealing with projects.
First and foremost was the lack of planning. There was no schedule for the project itself, nor one for smaller milestones along the way, so the developers could clearly see that the project was going in the right direction. It’s simply very hard to complete a project if there is no schedule associated with it.
It’s an unfortunate reality: Windows is constantly under attack by a never-ending barrage of viruses, exploits, and myriad other malware. And even the most cautious users will find their machines infected from time to time. For those lamentable occasions, it’s usually necessary to run a handful of third party applications to assist in the clean-up. There are a number of acceptable tools out there, but here are a few that I can’t live without.
Security breaches that get a lot of attention usually stem from human error.
The most common breach occurs when a hacker tricks someone into giving up their user name and password. Pretty soon, the password is hacked across multiple sites.
It is astounding that some applications have such low security thresholds for password recovery. Some applications will actually email the password. So, what if the hacker has access to your email account? Well, it’s not private anymore.
Most servers today are 2-4 socket systems (2-4S)–this is the sweet spot for both Intel and AMD. There are very few vendors who can design the custom chipsets (the glue) needed to scale up Intel systems to 8 sockets (8S). The most notable example is IBM, who has developed four generations of scalable chipsets and is about to release a fifth. We’ve previously discussed the X3 chipset which is largely similar to the current generation X4. Unisys also has an 8S system, albeit with lower performance. In theory, there are eight-socket AMD systems, but the scalability suffers because most processors only have three HyperTransport links.
The 8S+ market is small, reportedly around 1800 servers per quarter, or roughly 57K processors per year. One factor is that few vendors sell such systems and they are very expensive, another is that the x86 software stack was considered immature till very recently. Many IT shops are more comfortable with Oracle or SAP on a UNIX server, rather than using Linux/x86.
Different operating systems have different pros and cons, and customers make their mobile device purchases based on various criteria. Lately we’ve all been wondering what operating system we will be using on mobile phones in the future. RIM and Apple try to tie up users to their platform, while Google, Microsoft and Nokia try to push their solutions into the market.
Today there’s lots of interest in Android, a mobile operating system that uses a modified version of the Linux kernel. It was initially developed by Android Inc., a firm later purchased by Google, and lately by the Open Handset Alliance. Google says that Android has what it takes to lead the phone OS market. I’m not so sure.
One of the biggest challenges IT managers face is how to keep their teams working efficiently and productively. Being online, it’s natural for many IT professionals to fully embrace social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. So, many managers are concerned that productivity is lost to these engaging applications. A study by Nucleus Research warned that Facebook reduced total office productivity by 1.5 percent. This is a new twist on an old concern, as we’ve seen these fears with Web surfing and online shopping in past years. Some IT experts have gone as far as to advise that managers check router logs for most commonly visited websites, and to discipline employees who spend too much time on them.
However, fixating on what employees could be “wasting” time on is focusing on the wrong problem. Instead, managers should spend their time managing and focusing on results. The work world is becoming increasingly integrated with the personal one. Employees can check work email all throughout the day now, so a little online shopping or surfing Facebook at the office should not be frowned upon. Of course, if an employee’s actual performance starts to suffer, then it is that performance that should be addressed, and not the spending of time on Facebook, which is more of a symptom of a deeper underlying problem.
PC power supplies usually come with some protections. The savvy user will always try to pick one that provides the most protections possible. But having protections available doesn’t mean that the power supply will in fact protect your equipment in case of malfunction. Let’s see why.
To start off, you need to know that most protections available on power supplies are not mandatory, which means that it is up to the power supply manufacturer to add them. So you cannot simply trust that the power supply you want to buy will have all necessary protections. You have to double-check this info on the product box or manufacturer’s Web sites. But even if you buy a power supply with all possible protections, they may not protect your system.
It doesn’t matter if you are a newcomer to the IT industry or a veteran with over 30 years of expertise: there are some movies that I love and think that all people working on the computer industry should watch. They are entertaining and educative at the same time.
The most famous is, of course, Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999), which shows the beginning of Apple and Microsoft. It is dramatized, meaning that actors play the role of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and others. Although very famous, this movie is not the best one on the subject – this title goes to Triumph of the Nerds.
From the Jetsons to Blade Runner, just about any vision of “life in the future” always features some kind of videoconferencing. Well, that future may be upon us already. Even in the face of a worldwide recession, the enterprise videoconferencing market grew 16.7% for 2009, over 2008. A study published recently by [...]
While analysts share with us their bravest forecasts concerning the growth of the mobile market, Google is doing its best to stake its future on mobile devices right now. The head of the European Google, John Herlihy, in an interview with the SiliconRepublic Web site, said that in about three years from now traditional desktop systems [...]
Vaporware: It’s the venerable term for products which are announced but never reach the market. What lessons can IT pros learn from the mistakes that developers of vaporware make? How can you make sure that your company’s important products aren’t vaporous?
I can’t think of a better example of vaporware than Duke Nukem Forever, a game [...]
It’s an unfortunate reality: Windows is constantly under attack by a never-ending barrage of viruses, exploits, and myriad other malware. And even the most cautious users will find their machines infected from time to time. For those lamentable occasions, it’s usually necessary to run a handful of third party applications to assist in the clean-up. [...]
Security breaches that get a lot of attention usually stem from human error.
The most common breach occurs when a hacker tricks someone into giving up their user name and password. Pretty soon, the password is hacked across multiple sites.
It is astounding that some applications have such low security thresholds for password recovery. Some applications will [...]
Most servers today are 2-4 socket systems (2-4S)–this is the sweet spot for both Intel and AMD. There are very few vendors who can design the custom chipsets (the glue) needed to scale up Intel systems to 8 sockets (8S). The most notable example is IBM, who has developed four generations of scalable chipsets and [...]
Different operating systems have different pros and cons, and customers make their mobile device purchases based on various criteria. Lately we’ve all been wondering what operating system we will be using on mobile phones in the future. RIM and Apple try to tie up users to their platform, while Google, Microsoft and Nokia try to [...]
One of the biggest challenges IT managers face is how to keep their teams working efficiently and productively. Being online, it’s natural for many IT professionals to fully embrace social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. So, many managers are concerned that productivity is lost to these engaging applications. A study by [...]
PC power supplies usually come with some protections. The savvy user will always try to pick one that provides the most protections possible. But having protections available doesn’t mean that the power supply will in fact protect your equipment in case of malfunction. Let’s see why.
To start off, you need to know that most protections [...]
It doesn’t matter if you are a newcomer to the IT industry or a veteran with over 30 years of expertise: there are some movies that I love and think that all people working on the computer industry should watch. They are entertaining and educative at the same time.
The most famous is, of course, Pirates [...]
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