Posts by Jacques Kruger

Microsoft Office 365 and Azure Active Directory go TITSUP*

Well, in 28 months this was our first perceivable outage. Not bad, and a hell of a lot better than any other email service we've used in the past.

Windows Server 2016: Leg up or lock in?

The Concept of Value

What most of the commentators are missing here is the concept of value: a fair return in goods, services, or money for something exchanged according to Webster.

We have a hybrid environment with some Cloud (Azure, Exchange Online), some SaaS (ERPs and DMSs), Some Linux Servers, Some Windows Servers and a tonne of Windows Desktops. The Value we see from each of these aspects to IT is reasonable and that's why we pay subscriptions or licensing where required. Our not-insignificant EA gives us value because a small team can keep a large user-base happy as shit just works. And that includes our Windows servers. I have not had an issue with "buggy" Windows. We virtualize to remove possible driver and hardware issues issues and we update as prescribed by MS. Our Linux boxes the same, use the right tool for the job and you will realize that free is not always value, and a lot of money is not always expensive. Do your ROI calcs and you'll see why the biggest businesses in the world have some use for MS; they keep their staff productive and that makes them profitable.

And without the competition between the major players we would all still have been in the dark ages. You should thank MS for their part in that.

If you want to complain about licensing look at PBX systems like Siemens or Alcatel where you cannot do anything without a license.

Astroboffin discovers exoplanet by accident ... in 1917

Did Alex Help?

http://bigbangtheory.wikia.com/wiki/Alex_Jensen?file=TBBT_6x03_Sheldon_and_Alex.jpg

Google's call for cloudier, taller disks is a tall order says analyst

Re: Roll their own

I take on board what you say but I can guarantee you this: there will not be a market for platters outside a data-center in less than 10 years - all 'personal' storage will be SSD or similar and the rest of your digital treasure in a data-center, on spinning rust. If you can fabricate a more efficient drive and you have a market that includes Google, Facebook, Rackspace, etc. and that's the only place you can sell a platter too, you should do it. And hope that you have SSDs as an SKU.

Roll their own

I cannot see why the disk makers will avoid this. Google has the resources to do this themselves if they wanted, and adding this design to the Open Compute initiative will give Google more than enough scale. In the reverse, the first of the disk vendors to do what Google suggest and then incorporates this design into an Open Compute design wins. Big. Soon you say there will be only a few Cloud Service Providers, so it makes sense to get in bed with them now, before you get left out. You're going to loose the disk sales in any event. Google does as it pleases and a boycott wont stop them from achieving their goals.

Something ate Google's 8.8.8.8 at about eight in Asia's evening

Re: Bah Humbug

For me the best combination for DNS used for browsing is openDNS, then Google, then ISP, all cached using dnsmasq on my gateway box. Works, and works very quickly. Sure, OpenDNS may be a bit slow every now and then, but a local cache more than makes up for this IMHO.

IT jargon is absolutely REAMED with sexual double-entendres

This is not the first time my wife – a linguist – has inadvertently taught herself...

This is not the first time my wife – a linguist – has inadvertently taught herself...

Cunning, is she?

'Leccy racer whacks petrols in Oz race

What a handful indeed

Imagine the speed if that car had a driver that could find an apex...

Easy rip'n'replace storage using cheap kit? Nooooo, wail vendors

Re: And who do you cal...

I agree, to a point. Doubling commodity hardware cost is likely going to end up cheaper than paying for tier one storage. Add to that the possibility of running your second (spare) system for archive or near-line storage requirements that does not require 24x7 availability and you will be smiling all the way to the bank, and to your performance appraisal. Plan, and get rid of that box!

Re: And who do you cal...

Who do you usually call?

I believe that if you build the system yourself at least you will know what's potting; with your Tier 1 brand chances are you wont. If your vendor then tells you its going to cost or it can't be fixed, you nod and say yes. Roll your own, if you're like me and you firmly believe you can do it better than the dude in the (select storage vendor name and insert here) t-shirt you'll see that with a bit of planning and some courage you can do it better, more stable, cheaper, faster and more secure, but you have to roll up your sleeves, not just issue a purchase order...

Nigerian scams are hyper-efficient idiot finders

family or fiends [that's Microsoft's typo]

"other fomrs of attack." - that's the Reg's typo!

Man sentenced for breaching former employer's computers

Correction to the final paragraph.

Alvarez, who had worked for the company for more than seven years, joins a long list of stupid morons who sought revenge by breaching their employees' computer systems from their home computers without a thought to hiding their efforts

America spared Top Gear Mexican quips

And the French?

I've seen so many Top Gear episodes where the French are mocked, often quite a bit more "mischievous" than the comments on Mexico.

Why beer? I'm off to the pub to find a Mexican with a sense of humor.

Fruitcake profs demand strict curbs on killer robots

Of all the acronyms in the world...

ICRAC - When it's 3 laws safe I never crack!

alt

IWEED was my gateway to join ICRAC

alt

If Apple designed a male mobile music player thong for plumbers would they sue for the registration of iCrac as a trade name?

Phoenix Mars Lander officially dead

Austin Powers?

If memory serves Austin wanted to shag Fook Mi and Fook You, has he then missed an opportunity by not adding Fuk Li to his shag-o-thon?

Tricorder/Aliens-motion-tracker handscanner kit gets $6m

Kerr Effect

If the tricorder also uses visual sensors as suggested by Disco-Legend-Zeke, it may be more accurate to describe it as a sensor for the Kerr effect due to the combined sensing of electromagnetic and optical signals. A name change may then be appropriate: Kerr Field Detector, or K-FED...

Pentagon world-sim tool making good progress, say profs

Human rights

What should not be lost here is that if this sim is entirely accurate, the components, and well, citizens of the sim may indeed be blessed with access to the Matrix trilogy to ensure that the historical makeup of the simulation is accurate. Indeed it would be a strange realisation for them if they wake up one day to discover they are components in a simulation watching a bizarrely realistic movie about people that are components in a simulation...

Blogging vicar casts Tina Turner into hell

Are they just shy?

I aggree with the Vicar. If you're not a Christian why would you want a Vicar there in the first place? I'm sure this is related to some shyness or a a stigma that requirees you to at least look Christian to your family at the time of a burial.

For me, no vicar and no Tina Turner. I want to get stuck in the oven to the soothing sounds of AC/DC's "Higway to Hell"...

New non-volatile memory promises 'instant-on' computing

What about Windows?

With no reboots, how frustrated will you be with your windows PC in a week?