Computers aren't much good on their own. This simple fact was evident even at the dawn of the microcomputing age, and has never been more true today in the "post-PC" world. If the standard microcomputer is the "Wintel" box (Microsoft's Windows, Intel's CPUs, and all that implies) then the standard network services protocol is SMB. So let's take a nice deep dive into SMB, past, … [Read more...] about From LAN Manager and SMB to CIFS: The Evolution of Prehistoric PC Network Protocols
3Com
Why You Should Never Again Utter The Word, “CIFS”
Let me put on my “grumpy old storage guy” hat for a moment: CIFS is not the network storage protocol used by Microsoft Windows, and many other clients. CIFS is dead, and has been for many years. The protocol used to share files over a LAN by the majority of personal computers is called SMB. I wish everyone in the industry would get that through their heads. Dear marketers: If … [Read more...] about Why You Should Never Again Utter The Word, “CIFS”
HP’s Mighty Stumble
HP stumbled mightily in 2011, and it had nothing to do with product or people. Even sales remained strong, though the PC business is changing. HP's mighty stumble was a crisis of confidence due to a chain of shenanigans at the very top. This culminated with the short reign of Léo Apotheker, leaving HP to reassure the market of its strategy. HP And the Enterprise IT … [Read more...] about HP’s Mighty Stumble
Stephen’s HP Product Line Decoder Ring
HP has always been an alphabet soup company, assigning just about every item in their bewildering array of products a unique product number. Like Mercedes-Benz cars, even the product names are a mix of letters and numbers that can be off-putting to browsers. Now that they have grown to supersize proportions through internal expansion and acquisition, just about everyone outside … [Read more...] about Stephen’s HP Product Line Decoder Ring
Notes From Networking Field Day 2010
As some readers of my blog know, I organize the independent Gestalt IT cooperative. We're a group of folks who investigate and discuss enterprise IT technology, writing articles, running online communities, and organizing live events. Field Day is our chance to come together in various locations for face-to-face meetings with interesting product and technology companies. We're … [Read more...] about Notes From Networking Field Day 2010