{ Category Archives }
My webinar on building a business case for email archiving was very well-attended, so I was not able to get to everyone during the question and answer section. Since the questions were really excellent, I thought I would include them (and my responses) here.
Today, Sun released VirtualBox 2.0, a major revision to the (partially open source) desktop virtualization software. I have long used VirtualBox on my Windows machines as my virtualization product of choice due to its compactness, functionality, and low impact on the host system. Although I’m happy with VMware Fusion on the Mac, I intend to try out VirtualBox there, too, to see how it compares.
If you haven’t already tried VirtualBox, you ought to. It works very well, virtualizing Windows and Linux guests on Windows, Linux, Solaris, and Mac hosts with respectable performance. One thing I really love about it is that it doesn’t bog down my Vista system like VMware with installed drivers and services. It just installs and works and gets out of the way when you’re not using it.
VirtualBox supports shared folders, USB, and has guest additions for Windows and Linux to provide resolution independence and performance boosts. The new 2.0 version adds 64-bit guest OS support for 64-bit hosts along with performance and stability fixes. The Mac version now has a native look and feel and better networking, too.
One really interesting twist for folks interested in desktop virtualization (aka VDI on VMware) is integration with remote desktop protocol (RDP). VirtualBox guests can be configured to act as RDP servers, with thin(ish) clients accessing them over a network and even sharing their USB devices seamlessly. I’m getting pretty excited about the desktop virtualization concept - I’ll be keeping my eyes on companies like stealthy Old Road Computing Virtual Computer to see what they’re up to!
As impressed as I am with Apple’s iPhone App Store, with its simple purchasing and automated installs and upgrades, it would be better if the thing actually worked reliably. Along with sometimes forgetting song purchases, there seems to be some gremlin that causes the App Store to forget that certain apps are installed and not check for updates. This left me scratching my head, as updated apps like Super Monkey Ball, Facebook, Evernote, and Cube Runner remained in their previous state.
I suspect that the App Store did not update its internal record of my purchases when I wiped and re-set up my iPhone shortly after upgrading to OS 2.0. When I did this, I reinstalled all the apps from iTunes’ backup copy rather than re-downloading them from the App Store, and perhaps this caused them to be overlooked.
Sprint USB EV-DO + Cradlepoint personal hotspot = sweet!
I was traveling this morning, and was shocked to not be able to check on my flight status with my iPhone. It just sat there churning when I arrived in Chicago. I couldn’t figure it out, but quickly booted up the Cradlepoint router and Sprint EV-DO card and was online. Since I also had critical work-related email to respond to, I would have been seriously upset if I didn’t have backup connectivity.
It turns out that AT&T’s network was out in quite a few locations. Although I didn’t see Chicago on he lists at first, it was definitely down this morning at 7 local time!
I guess my iPhone’s camera wasn’t the only thing on the fritz in Chicago!
Chicago O'Hare Airport like you've never seen it before!
This time, instead of turning green, my iPhone snapped this oddly discombobulated photo. The very next shot was perfect, but how can one explain this? Whatever the cause, it’s certainly interesting!
Seriously, folks, this is the exact image from my iPhone, no editing involved! And it did this again this afternoon!
Yup, my Boot Camp drive icon is customized, too!
In my last post, I discussed the simple but confusing steps required to add custom icons to Mac OS X drives. I mentioned that there were some tricks to getting custom icons on some drives, however, including Boot Camp and NTFS disks. This week, I’ll show how to customize these as well.
There are two core problems with customizing drive icons for certain volumes:
But it’s easy enough to get around these limitations. Apple takes care of number 2, and we can cover number 1 in one of two ways.
There is nothing like presenting in the ballroom at the Hilton Chicago!
Storage Decisions returns to New York later this month, and I’ll be happy to be there. Although the Hilton New York isn’t as grand as the Chicago venue pictured, it’s still a great location and a better event!
This time around, I’ll have two sessions:
If you haven’t yet decided to attend, please do consider applying for admission at TechTarget’s site.
On the other hand, if you’re planning to be there, please drop by and say hello! I’ll be around the exhibit hall on Tuesday evening, and will have my tail glued to an ask-the-experts chair on Wednesday through lunch.
I’ll be in Charlotte for my storage virtualization seminar in October, with another Storage Decisions in San Francisco coming up in November!
3PAR just introduced their third-generation storage hardware, bringing a novel feature to the world of thin provisioning: Hardware-assisted “zero-detection” to convert standard storage to thin provisioning. Although only certain special-case users will benefit from this technology, it’s nice to see someone working on one of the pitfalls of the technology - that it’s really hard to convert from “fat” to thin, let alone to un-provision storage.
News today is that powerhouse IT publisher, The Register, has snapped up storage industry reporting up and comer, Blocks and Files. Included in the deal is amusing editor/writer Chris Mellor and the back catalog of editorials. Left to rot are the sponsored (?) advertorials and regurgitated press releases. B&F will become a new storage-focused Register section. I imagine Chris’ trademark snarky wit will be quite welcome under the vulture mascot.
(how’d I do, Chris?)
You've got voicemail!
I have long felt that voicemail was archaic. Like fax machines, voice mail systems seem stuck in an earlier era, with arcane controls and so little feedback that the user has no idea if their attempt at communication has been successful. In fact, I was long loath to trust voice mail systems at all, instead just asking people to call my other numbers or email me.
With this in mind, I was impressed by Apple’s reinvention of voice mail with the iPhone. Although the Visual Voicemail feature is widely recognized as referring to the interactive table of voice messages shown in the phone, their implementation goes well beyond that, offering all I wanted in a voice mail system. Indeed, although I was considering other systems prior to getting the iPhone, I have since settled on Apple’s simple but effective system.
My Shared Items Enterprise Storage at FriendFeed
