Despite using Mac OS X for most of my daily work, I normally have one or two Windows 7 virtual machines running in VMware Fusion. But Windows Automatic Update is causing me trouble. It automatically restarts these virtual machines whenever there is an OS update, which seems to be every night lately. This automatic reboot kills whatever programs happen to be running at the time, causing me to lose half-written articles (even though I saved them and Auto Save is on) and almost killing an old BlackBerry I was updating. I had to figure out a way to disable this automatic reboot!
Everything
On Being a Squeaky Wheel (Where’s My Grease?)
It just isn’t right. I shouldn’t have to complain to get decent customer service, to keep listed prices from changing at checkout, or to get defective products replaced. Every customer deserves the same positive experience: A smooth purchase, easy delivery, as-advertised functionality, and lifetime quality. The squeaky wheel shouldn’t be the only one to get the grease. Until then, however, I have one word of advice: Squeak!
Dell + EqualLogic, Exanet, Ocarina, 3Par = What?
The storage industry got a lot more competitive this morning, as Dell announced plans to buy 3Par. This is the latest round in a well-established race for the enterprise storage dollar, challenging superpower (and Dell partner) EMC in the high-end SAN space. What does this acquisition say about the industry as a whole? Where are we headed?
Like Dystopian Cyberpunk Fiction? You’ll Love Max Headroom on DVD! Really!
It’s a familiar tale: A production company gets the green light to produce a new science fiction television series and pours their hearts into it, then the network destroys it. I’m not talking about Joss Whedon’s masterful Firefly; I’m talking about the 1987 series, Max Headroom. If you’re not familiar with the series, you may be recoiling slightly in post-traumatic 1980’s stress at the thought of Coca Cola’s overexposed pitchman being associated with anything positive. But you really ought to give it a chance. The show is simply amazing.
Are 320 GB Drives Doomed?
Another reader question: Are 320 GB hard disk drives getting to the point where an unrecoverable read error is inevitable? When do hard disk drives become too unreliable to use?
