Ramblings
Miscellaneous topics that don't necessarily have to do with Technology.
Ever try to explain something to a three year old that they don’t want to hear? It’s a chore. They change the subject, try to ignore you, turn away, and as a last defense, start asking “why?” a lot. It is amusing that IT often suffers the same issues. Really. We’re adults, but at the root of the problem, they’re basically the same. When a customer says “We need fluff!” IT often responds with “We don’t support fluff, try some cotton balls instead”. The other situation that I find massive parallels in is the guy that simply...
At our annual sales conference, Lori and I sat in on a great presentation by coworker Dawn Parzych that talked about the Internet, usage, and patterns. There are two interesting statistics that she presented, and I’ve munged them to generate a combined statistic. Dawn is our Product Manager for acceleration, but the statistics I’m pulling out of her presentation are generic informational statistics. She mentioned her source, but alas, I didn’t write it down. Drop me a line if you simply must have it, and I’ll bug her for it. Statistic one: Number of Internet Users, 1995 to...
Funny thing about the advancement of technology, in most of the modern world we enshrine it, spend massive amounts of money to find “the next big thing”, and act as if change is not only inevitable, but rapid. The truth is that change is inevitable, but not necessarily rapid, and sometimes, it’s about necessity. Sometimes it is about productivity. Sometimes, it just plain isn’t about either. Handcarts are still used for serious purposes in parts of the world, by people who are happy to have them, and think a motorized vehicle would be a waste of resources. Think...
Last week, InformationWeek quoted a Microsoft manager as saying there was “No chance” Windows XP would get another stay of execution. This really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, it was only the backlash from enterprises that kept Microsoft from ending support for XP over the last several years. So now that Windows XP support will no longer be available, it is time for even the most recalcitrant enterprises to consider their options. All of their options. The world is changing on us yet again, and the needs of tomorrow might not be the needs of the future....
#F5Networks There is a wealth of information out there, don’t forget to tap into it. Note: When I say “peers” and “lunch” throughout this blog, I am not only referring to IT management. No matter your position in the organization, gathering useful information is always a benefit. Though you’ll want management’s support for the bit where I suggest a two hour lunch. Some IT shops frown on that, even if it’s only occasionally. In many industries, it is all about word of mouth. I’m not talking about tech-savvy industries that have just rediscovered this truth since Social...
Yes indeed, today is the last Friday in July, making it System Administrator Appreciation Day, that day when you offer a small thanks to the SysAdmin that keeps your systems running while you’re worrying about the apps or the storage or the security. Seriously, these are people who have to know a little bit of everything IT just so they can do their jobs. Most know how to program, most have decent security chops, most can allocate storage, most know how to create, start, and bounce VMs, and all of them know about systems. But we don’t often...
My mother recently had hip replacement surgery. She’s tough, has needed this most of her life, and only had the surgery now because doctors wouldn’t treat her any more without it. So we kids are taking our turns visiting her during her six to eight week recovery period. The one thing I’ve noticed since I arrived, is that while she is thrilled to have a hip that works like it hasn’t since she was a teenager, the things she cannot do frustrate her. One rule is that you take steps one at a time during the healing process, stepping up...
It’s kind of funny the way the tech press will kick an incumbent around the block for perceived or imaginary shortcomings in their products. The Blackberry Playbook is a good example. You’d think that RIM went out and created a useless piece of garbage that was never going to see uptake no matter how large RIM’s enterprise market share was. <Warning, I own a Playbook> The press and bloggers have leveled a whole slew of complaints against the Playbook that range from no out-of-the-box integration with mail servers to the power button not being convenient enough....
InformationWeek has been out and about talking up their most recent CIO survey and keeps calling attention to the fact that one in three CIOs see creating a new business or business model as a driver in 2011. This is not a new phenomenon, but one in three is more CIOs than I would have intuitively thought, so I started to think about it. There has always been a drive, at least in every company I’ve worked for, that if you want to grow your ivory tower you need to generate revenue. Because IT is a support function...
Every spring I get excited. I live in Wisconsin, which my travels have shown me you may not understand. I have actually been told “that is not your house, there is snow on the ground. All of America is sun and beaches”. Well, in Wisconsin, it gets cold. Moscow style cold. There are a couple of weeks each winter where going out is something you do only after bundling up like a toddler… Mittens, hats, coat, another coat, boots… But then spring comes, and once the temperature gets to the point where the snow starts to melt, the sun...
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