Practical Technology

for practical people.

December 9, 2008
by sjvn01
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XP lives… for a price

Can we cut the crap? No one wants Vista, and stubborn Windows users have demanded XP. While neither Microsoft nor its partners will admit it, Microsoft has abandoned its attempt to kill off XP.

Last June, Microsoft announced that it would no longer be selling XP. Even then. Microsoft had started backing away from its flat statement that XP was history.

First, the rise of netbooks, which all were using desktop Linux, frightened Microsoft into offering XP Home to netbook vendors. It was already too late. Desktop Linux now runs on about three out of ten netbooks. It’s no wonder that Windows has, at long last, dropped below 90% of desktop market share.

Next, Microsoft decided that it would still allow some low-end desktops to run XP Home. This move seems to have amounted to little. I haven’t seen any cheap desktop systems with XP Home. Instead, Vista Basic, the Vista that even Vista fans can’t stand, is what I’ve found on bottom-end desktops.

Businesses, though, can’t use XP Home. It won’t work with corporate networks using AD (Active Directory) or domains. CIOs and CTOs, unless they’re willing to give desktop Linux or the Mac a try, must use XP Pro.

The good news for companies that won’t give up on Windows is that Microsoft quietly decided to let users buy ‘downgraded’ XP Pro from computer manufacturers through July 2009. The bad news is that it’s going to cost you.

Dell is now charging an extra $150 to use XP Pro. For the price of two XP Pro licenses, you can buy a business-network-ready netbook.

I get why people want XP Pro. It’s easily my favorite member of the Windows family. With Vista SP2 looking like a non-starter, and Windows 7 looking more and more like warmed-over Vista, I think that no matter what Microsoft may say, XP is going to be around for a long time to come.

Still, as I look ahead, I wish more people would give desktop Linux and the Mac a try. At an additional $150 a crack for XP and an economy heading for the dumpster, desktop Linux is more than ever the affordable choice. And Macs, which have always been the high-priced luxury line of computing, are beginning to look a lot more reasonable.

A version of this story first appeared in ComputerWorld.

December 7, 2008
by sjvn01
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Digital Copy: A feature that’s no feature

You may have noticed that many new DVDs and Blu-Ray discs are being advertised with a new, extra ‘feature:’ Digital Copy. These films, such as Wanted, The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia!, come with an additional disc. On this disc is a copy of the movie you can put it on your computer, and from there, view it on your PC’s screen or on your television via an Apple TV or some other computer-to-TV device.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well… no.

This is simply the movie industry’s latest attempt to sugar coat DRM (Digital Rights Management). You already bought the movie. You should be able to watch it on any device you own that can show the movie and back it up. Of course, that’s the last thing the movie companies want you to do. As far as they’re concerned, you don’t buy a movie, an episode of a TV show, an album, or song. You rent the use of it on one, or at most, two, devices.

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December 5, 2008
by sjvn01
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No Kindle for Christmas

I don’t have a Kindle. Yet. I was holding out for the second edition of the Kindle, but Amazon was unable to ship out by this holiday season. Now, even if you wanted the first model, you can’t have it. Amazon has run out of Kindles.

Argh! This makes two holiday seasons in a row Amazon’s shelves have been bare of Kindles. I can only presume that they didn’t know that Oprah Winfrey was going to name it her favorite new gadget in October. After all, if any company should know that when Oprah gives her blessing to a product it flies off the shelves it should be Amazon thanks to her book recommendations that turn no-name books into best-sellers.

Be that as it may, we won’t see first, or second, editions of Kindle this December. Kindle, however, isn’t the only Linux-powered eBook reader out there. Sony has two models out. There’s the Sony Reader PRS-700BC and the older Sony Reader PRS-505.

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December 4, 2008
by sjvn01
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Ubuntu + IBM = Choice corporate Linux desktop?

I can set up a Linux desktop from bare metal to working customized desktop in about an hour. I can set up several dozens Linux desktops for an SMB (small to medium sized business) in a day. I can’t, however, roll out several hundred or thousands Linux desktops without a lot of help, time and work. Now, thanks to a partnership between Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, and IBM, there’s a way to roll out corporate Linux desktops almost as fast as you can plug them into the network.

IBM pulls this trick up by using the old thin-client approach. Instead of having a full-out desktop on every desk, users have computers that pick up their desktop applications using Virtual Bridges’ VERDE (Virtual Enterprise Remote Desktop Environment) virtualization software.

Even old Linux hands may not recognize the Virtual Bridges name, but they will know its products. Virtual Bridges is the company behind Win4Lin, one of the first and best of the Windows on Linux virtualization programs.

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December 4, 2008
by sjvn01
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Will a Linux Certification Help You Get a Linux Job?

Will a Linux certification help you get a Linux job? The answer is: “Probably.”

There are a host of Linux certifications. They range from the high-end Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) and Novell’s Novell Linux Certified Engineer (NLCE ) to ones that are appropriate for entry-level Linux system managers, such as the Linux Professional Institute’s entry-level LPIC-1. Each are meant to show that those who have them are Linux professionals of one level or another. How much help are they though when it comes from turning your Linux expertise into a Linux job?

David Stokes, a certification manager for Sun’s MySQL division, said, “I like to see the LPI or Red Hat certs but that is not a requirement. You do need to find out how many Linux/Unix systems they setup, managed, or have used to eliminate the home hobby-level candidate. Next find out how long, what level of experience, and what type of problems they have solved. It also helps if they have experience beyond the Linux sphere.”

So, that’s one vote for Linux certifications in general, but, on the other hand, Nicholas Accada, a Linux administrator and Network Infrastructure Specialist at Nokia thinks that “The only certificate that I consider a plus is Red Hat, the others are mostly noise.” Accada, who doesn’t have a certification adds, “It depends on the hiring manager, but managers who know Linux, always look beyond the certifications, they prefer the ‘what can you do’ approach.”

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December 3, 2008
by sjvn01
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The world’s worst way to market Linux

At first, it sounds like a good idea. Nanchang, the capital of China’s eastern Jiangxi province, is requiring Internet cafe operators to replace pirated server software with legal copies of Red Flag Linux or Windows Server. What’s not to like? It’s estimated that China has an 82% software piracy rate. Getting businesses to go legal with a native Chinese Linux sounded like a win to me. Until, I saw the Red Flag Linux price tag: 5,000 yuan, that’s $725 U.S. That’s way over the line for a small Chinese business.

Nanchang has about 600 Internet cafes for its approximately 4-million citizens. In China, for most people, Internet cafes are still the way they use to connect with the Internet. China made be home for Lenovo and many other PC vendors, but you’re not going to find PCs and broadband in most homes.

That said, no one’s getting rich from the Internet cafes. They’re small mom and pop businesses. They can’t afford $725 for an operating system and they’re letting the officials know about it. Unfortunately, it’s not doing much good. One said, “When you talk to officials from the Culture Department, they tell you, ‘If you’re willing to pay, pay; if not, you have the option not to pay.’ Hearing words like that turns your heart cold. We really can’t make a living.” In other words, you can either pay to play or you can go out of business.

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