April 2006 - Posts

• Top Twelve Benefits of Being a Network Administrator.

  You never have to worry about getting too much sleep. You will never master your profession. You get to crawl around on your hands and knees. Bloody hands are a part of the job. Your life is not your own - even on Christmas. No matter how hard you try, something will always go wrong. Everyone comes to you on your (non-existent) off-hours for help. You have an insatiable desire for more knowledge. Your users will never stop doing stupid things. Problems will occur over which you have no control (e.g. internet backbone fights). 'Network Administrator' really mans 'Jack of All Trades' and consumes network design and maintenance, monitoring, backups, database, programming, scripting, website design, security, help desk, and replenishing the toilet paper. You get to make Top 12 lists instead of Top 10. Posted Apr 27 2006, 09:34 PM by admin with no comments Filed under: General Technology.

• What if Microsoft gave Vista away?

  Microsoft is hardily chomping away on its latest revision of the widely used Windows Operating System. This latest rendition will be known as Vista and is expected sometime early in 2007.     I haven't spent too much time with the OS, too many more practical problems confront me on a daily basis - why that server is crashing or purchasing new equipment, helping users troubleshoot their problems. But for some reason I started thinking...     What if Microsoft released Vista for free? I agree, it is extremely unlikely, but there are some good reasons to do so: 1. Microsoft is currently in the middle of a long struggle with Linux for control of both the server and desktop arenas. While Microsoft still dominates in this area, there has been some gains for Linux and other open source software. One of the greatest reasons many companies are switching to Linux - whether one desktop or server is not because of distinct performance improvements but rather because of an (at least perceived) lower total cost of ownership (TCO). 2. Microsoft could continue to require Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) to pay for the software (an end-user only free license) which would allow them to generate significant revenue even while giving the software away free. 3. Microsoft could only release the lower and mid-range versions of the product for free, with relatively minor upgrade fees to move up to the more full-featured versions. This would encourage individuals to become involved with the product and as they became familiar with it they could upgrade further. 4. Microsoft could combat Apple successfully on the multimedia front by offering a free Vista Media OS in conjunction with OEMs that would be very attractive to the end-consumer at a reduced price. 5. This would not be out of line with the way Microsoft has been doing business lately with its release of the Express editions as well as its recent release for free download of Virtual Server 2005 R2. 6. Microsoft has significant cash reservoirs which along with its enterprise products could carry it through the loss of inflowing cash from Vista sales. 7. Microsoft could include more ad based products with Vista without as many complaints from consumers. For example, bundled internet, advertising on Windows startup screen. 8. Microsoft could continue to increase revenue by encouraging individuals to focus on value-add products rather than the core OS - for example Windows Defender and Windows OneCare. 9. Microsoft has done this before on a lesser scale with Netscape and did so successfully (until Mozilla came out of the blue).     Valid business model or ridiculous fantasy? Let me know. Posted Apr 20 2006, 10:48 PM by admin with 5 comment(s) Filed under: General Technology.