Microsoft’s Overlooked Innovation
Posted by Stephen in Computer history, Personal on 15. Feb, 2010 | Comments
It’s fun to bash Microsoft. It’s easy, too, with Apple solidly conquering the high end of the PC and mobile markets and Google’s command of the Internet. But how fair are these articles skewering Microsoft, such as “Microsoft’s chronic lack of innovation” published today at Techworld? I suggest that Microsoft innovates as well as, if not better than, any other massive company. But no one innovates like an outsider.
Google’s Evil Buzz Is Building
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Computer history, Personal, Virtual Storage on 12. Feb, 2010 | Comments
Although “don’t be evil” isn’t Google’s official corporate motto, the company and its admirers have embraced the concept implicitly and explicitly. But pride goeth before a fall, and the buzz around Google isn’t just about their new social networking feature: Cynicism and disillusionment with Google is growing.
Two Stupidly Cool Terminal Fonts
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Computer history, Personal on 25. Jan, 2010 | Comments
Two stupidly-cool fonts in action: My normal DEC VT220-like terminal and a super-large terminal with super-tiny Tom Thumb displaying Hamlet. All of Hamlet. No kidding.
Ramdisks: Back From the Brink of Extinction
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Computer history, Enterprise storage, Virtual Storage on 15. Jan, 2010 | Comments
Using system memory for storage is something of a lost art these days. But many of today’s I/O intensive tasks can still benefit from the untouchable quickness provided by a ramdisk. Happily, most operating systems are still capable of creating and using ramdisks.
Are Microsoft and EMC beginning a renaissance of geek respect?
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Computer history, Enterprise storage, Gestalt IT, Personal, Virtual Storage on 08. Jan, 2010 | Comments
What’s the difference between naughty and nice when it comes to IT companies? Microsoft and EMC would definitely not have made the nice list over the last decade, but things are changing. With their competition taking dents in the ongoing battles, Microsoft and EMC just don’t look so bad anymore.
My 2009 IT Industry Predictions
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Computer history, Enterprise storage, Everything, Personal, Terabyte home, Virtual Storage on 24. Dec, 2009 | Comments
Predictions are perilous: Get it right and you look like a mere trend-watcher; get it wrong and you look like a fool. So I’m doing something different this year: I’m going to make predictions for 2009 now that it’s over, and reflect on just how smart I am (not) to have made them.
Drobo, XP Users: Beware of 4K “Advanced Format” Drives!
Posted by Stephen in Apple, Computer history, Enterprise storage, Everything, Terabyte home on 23. Dec, 2009 | Comments
Personal computer hard disk drive access methods have been repeatedly forced to adapt to ever-expanding capacity. But Western Digital is leading the change to larger 4 kilobyte hard disk blocks. Although this new “Advanced Format” includes mechanisms for backwards compatibility, buyers should be wary of these new drives for the time being.
Flush Time
Posted by Stephen in Computer history, Enterprise storage on 19. Oct, 2009 | Comments
Single-parity RAID is under attack. Caching is the hottest trend in storage. The end of the high-performance disk drive is imminent. What happened? Increasing areal bit density has caused disk capacity to grow much faster than disk performance. A presentation at Storage Networking World by Ronald Bianchini of Avere exposed the mathematics of this phenomenon.
The Dumb Disk Fallacy
Posted by Stephen in Computer history, Enterprise storage, Gestalt IT, Terabyte home on 13. Oct, 2009 | Comments
I am spending a few weeks examining the truths and fictions that bind our industry together. Let’s start with one of my favorite old canards: That enterprise storage must be overpriced because bare disk drives are so cheap.
I have seen this straw man argument set up by so many throughout my career that it has [...]
We Hold These (Storage) Truths…
Posted by Stephen in Computer history, Enterprise storage, Everything, Gestalt IT on 12. Oct, 2009 | Comments
I usually welcome discussion (and even argument) about the things I know best: There is always more to learn, and the best insights come through engaging those who disagree with us. But some ideas have been argued so well for so long that they deserve enshrinement. For example, although non-scientists like to argue about evolution [...]
