Opinion

Social context for data analysis

Online tools are unlocking the inherently social nature of public data analysis

Cassatt Introduces Collage 4.0

Cassatt Corporation announced the availability of Cassatt Collage 4.0. This new version includes new virtual machine and network virtualization control capabilities, helping organizations use automation to radically simplify data center management. A

VMworld 2006 – What’s the Next Best Thing to Being There?

VMworld 2006 was, by all accounts, a huge success. And with over 7000 virtualization fans flooding the Los Angeles Convention Center on November 7-9, how could it be anything but a huge success. In spite of the strong numbers in attendance, it just w

Analysis: Networking vendors aim at cross-platform visibility

"Geek in Paradise" and Test Center Contributing Analyst Brian Chee is my go-to guy when I'm looking for expert insight on anything networking-related. Earlier today, I wrote about EMC's latest version of its Smarts Service Assuran

EMC boost its network management Smarts

Aiming to equip network admins with deeper insight and more secure control over large-scale, complex networks, EMC this week announced Version 7.0 of its EMC Smarts Service Assurance Manager (SAM) and IP Availability Manager (IPAM). Smarts SAM, an in

Predicting human behavior is not an exact science

A recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer on the use of predictive analytics to determine which of Philadelphia's parolees were likely to commit murder caught my attention. A broad definition of predictive analytics would be the process of m

Google open-sources Web toolkit

Google has made its Google Web Toolkit available via open source under an Apache 2.0 license, the company said on Tuesday. The toolkit features a free development framework for writing AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) Web applications in Java.

An active discussion about passive voice

Dear Bob …I understand the point you are making with the rule about avoiding the passive voice in business writing (in "Sounding smarter," Keep the Joint Running, 11/27/2006). I also believe it is a powerful tool for consultants in the co

How to (almost) get an IT job in France

I was on my way to France. My buddy was on his way to Vegas. Then we woke up.

Predicting user behavior still not an exact science

The benefits of predictive analytics boil down to the decisions of the people involved

Test Center Tracker: Welcome to the test lab

Behind the curtain: Senior Contributing Editor Paul Venezia is wrapping up the year by offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse into his testing laboratory. Meet the servers, storage, and operating systems in Part One, and the racks, networking gear, and

Rather Rough Rollout for Redmond

I can tell right now the Gripe Line is going to be a bit Microsoft-heavy in the coming weeks. Not only are Vista and associated new business products bound to raise hackles on DRM and other fronts, it would appear Microsoft was not really all that we

XenSource Introduces XenServer Family of Products

XenSource, Inc. announced today a comprehensive family of server virtualization products supported and maintained by the company leading the evolution of Xen. In addition to the already announced XenEnterprise solution (which the company describes as

So What’s New With Virtual Iron 3.1?

Today, Virtual Iron Software announced the release of version 3.1 of its enterprise-class virtualization platform with full support for much anticipated unmodified Windows and Linux. The company also announced the immediate availability of free, prod

Year end lab notes part 2: Rumble in the Jungle

Continuing the year-end series I started a few days ago, I'm going to detail some of the networking and infrastructure components of my lab, with special emphasis on what I rely on day after day. Networking I've been reviewing Dell's P

The eBay Gulag

It's a vast, murky prison system of which the outside world knows practically nothing. Inmates can find themselves exiled to its depths without warning or trial, without clear charges or the right to defend themselves, and without knowing if and

Review: Xandros 4.1 a viable Windows alternative

With the launch of Windows Vista, many companies are evaluating their upgrade options for existing PCs. Vista will run on most PCs manufactured in the last year or two, but will only run well on computers with a good graphics card and lots of RAM. Vi

Are SOA Architects Neglecting the Data?

After hanging out with a number of SOA builders over the last few months, it's come to my attention that many are not focusing holistically when it comes to their architecture. Specially, what's missing, is both an understanding of the dat

Are Background Checks Worth the Effort?

Mention doing a background check on potential employees or even contractors and most executives (large or SMB) nod sagely and agree. And the next time they're checking out a nice looking resume, they forget all about it. Bigger enterprises are

The mythical open source miracle

Community development isn't a quick fix for poorly designed software

Gift guide for gearheads

Wondering what to buy yourself, or the techno-gadget-lover who has everything?

When Virtual Appliances Turn to the Dark Side

Before going RTM or GA with Microsoft Vista, Microsoft wanted to overhaul the operating system's copy protection schema to try and fight back in the OS piracy battle that it has found itself in time and time again. Unfortunately for the business

Parallels Updates, but what about Apple?

Parallels continues to impress with its fast paced development efforts as it prepares to bring to market yet another update to its Parallels Desktop for Mac software. A beta release of the updated product is already in the hands of beta testers and i

Asterisk, VMware, a Cisco 7970 and a few hours

Since I seem to be feeling rather talkative today, I figured I'd post a bit on the latest little bit of geekery I committed this week. All noted configuration file examples can be downloaded from here. I've had a Cisco 7970 running SCCP fir

OpenLogic expands open source library

OpenLogic on Monday is announcing an upgrade to its OpenLogic Enterprise platform for deploying open source infrastructure. Version 4.2 includes more than 200 open source products in a pre-certified library, up from 160 projects in the prior release.

H-1B may face Senate vote

It looks like Senator John Cornyn, Republican, Texas, is still trying to push through the SKIL [Securing Knowledge Innovation and Leadership] bill, as of late Friday, December 8th. Pro H-1B visa law firm Siskind, Susser, Bland, immigration law specia

I Guess It’s True Then

The other day I wrote how MS doesn't care about DBAs. I really thought I was just being my usual negative self, but as it turns out, I'm not the only one. I've received so much email from DBAs saying the same thing, and that they'

MRTG and RRDtool Creator Receives 2006 SAGE Outstanding Achievement Award

Top 5 insider information leak prevention protectors

Call it data loss prevention, insider threat protection, information leak prevention, or whatever you like, a number of vendors have assembled entire suites of products aimed at preventing confidential information from slipping out of the enterprise

Generalists vs specialists in the job market

Dear Bob …The down side to the "knowledge" that most people have, that a confident person can be relied on, is that someone like myself, who knows that there is always a better way of doing something, gets ignored even when right (even my

Year end lab notes

Over the next week or so I'm going to be discussing what's in my test lab, both the good and bad, and what I use on a daily basis vs what gets shelved. In any working lab — especially one testing all sorts of new gear — there's a fou

Mining profits upstream and down

IT expands its reach to bring efficiency to the outermost ends of the supply chain

Microsoft’s new identity: secure OS vendor?

The impressive security improvements in Vista make it a tough OS to hack

Test Center Tracker: Tibco boards the ESB line

All aboard the Tibco Express: Test Center Analyst Andrew Binstock has been at the wheel of ESBs (enterprise service bus), so he knows what he's looking for as he travels the road toward SOA. In his latest test-drive of Tibco's BusinessWorks

Phone Company Charges Fee for No Service

If there's one area where telecom companies are far more innovative than any other industry, it's in their remarkable creativity in coming up with new fees to charge their customers. One reader thinks he may have discovered the very epitome

A New Product with a Sexy Voice

At PASS I had the pleasure of finally meeting the man behind the new DBLaunch for SQL Server. I had talked with Sean before, and it sounded interesting so I was glad to get a chance to sit down with him. DBLaunch is basically an install and patch man

Simplified storage for small businesses

Vendors put SAS and direct connections in the limelight to catch the eyes of SMB customers

No rush to Vista

Upgrading to Vista may be technically easy, but most business's PCs can't meet new OS's demands

ThinPrint Virtualizes Printers

ThinPrint, an international software manufacturer that is a specialist for printing in distributed network architectures, now offers a print solution for VMware's Virtual Infrastructure 3 (VI3). The .print Virtual Desktop Engine, with its well p

Notes from the OMG SOA Information Day and Should you Fire your EA?

Notes from the OMG SOA Information Day and Should you Fire your EA? Download file…

UniveRSS

As DBAs need RSS feeds the same as everyone else, I thought I'd pass along this new project by MS. It's a 3D RSS reader that reads directly from your IE7 store. It's an interesting concept, but im just not sure I'm ready for somet

Is Microsoft doomed? (ver. 2)

By focusing on the end-user (Vista, Office 2007), Microsoft delights the user with fun and functional platforms at the risk of alienating their core constituency: the IT professional.

Confidence vs arrogance

Dear Bob …I thoroughly enjoyed your column on Confidence ("Apologies, confessions, and critiques," Keep the Joint Running, 11/20/2006). As one who has been accused at various times of both Confidence and Arrogance, I feel that my perspect

AMD consolidates the desktop

AMD’s Quad FX platform sets fire to the desktop and charts a cheap, simple course to eight cores

Data export, delivered

The Web's open architectural style and implicit APIs can help overcome data lock-in

NetBeans developer tools released

Sun Microsystems and the NetBeans open source community will unveil NetBeans Visual Web Pack and the NetBeans C/C++ Development Pack on Wednesday. Based on the Sun Java Studio Creator IDE, the Web pack offers a visual design time environment for deve

JavaScript Galore!

I said before that DBAs should know more that just SQL. I believe I blogged on that here. Along those lines, I just finished a review of a very nice javascript video training course. It's done by How To Gurus and the guy who does the instruction

United Devices Unveils Data Center Virtualization

United Devices (UD) officially entered the mainstream virtualization market by announcing general availability of solutions focused on virtualizing mission-critical business applications for enterprise data centers and outsourced IT service providers

Review: Twinhead Durabook built to last

I'm the kind of guy that tries to get the most out of everything he has. No matter if it's a computer or a lawnmower, I milk it for everything it's worth, sometimes long past its usefulness. This was especially true of my current faith

Teamprise advances developer collaboration

Teamprise is shipping version 2.0 of the Teamprise Client Suite, which enables access to Microsoft's developer collaboration server from Java, Macintosh and Unix systems. Developers can use the server, called Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundat