Category: Uncategorized

07-May-09

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Warning – here lurketh earthy language, move on if easily offended.

I had an epiphany a couple of weeks ago. I decided that cancer is a total twat. It’s a bully of the worst kind. It does not discriminate between black or white, rich or poor, funny or boring or smelly or well scrubbed. It just casually stops picking it’s nose every once in a while, looks around and just picks on someone totally at random. They could be a bit of a twat, they could be a God fearing volunteer who does great work with homeless people. The point is it doesn’t care.

A couple of weeks ago, my Mum was diagnosed with a brain tumour. We don’t know at this stage if it’s cancerous, but the fine (and I really mean that) people at Hope Hospital at Salford did some great work, got a lot of it out and sent her back home, where she’s doing miraculously well. Before this, I’d always thought of cancer as something that just affected other people. You hear about it in conversation and you find yourself doing that tilty head thing and furrowing your brow whilst saying “ahh…what a shame”.

This time last year, I did the Great Manchester Run for the first time and got myself sponsored for Cancer Research UK. Ironic really, in hindsight. I only picked them at random because they’re a well know and deserving charity amongst many other fine causes. I’m too late now this year to do the same again, but should I do another 10K (and feel free to take me into a corner and have words if I tell you I am), I intend to get sponsorship to help those fine people at CRC and let’s beat this twat with all we’ve got. Things have come a long way in just a few years, but we aren’t there yet. Like all bullies, it won’t stop until we’ve ground it’s fucked up face into the dirt with feeling.

If you are a cancer sufferer, I wish you well from the bottom of my heart.

29-Jan-09

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First post of 2009! The new job is going well, certainly learning a lot of new things, especially where Novell’s ZENworks Configuration Management is concerned. I thought now might be a good moment to impart some of the things I’ve picked up over the last four months as I think I probably get 90% of the ZCM traffic that comes through Technical Support here.

Firstly, if you’re a ZEN7 shop and you’re wondering, should I upgrade? The answer takes many different facets, and each situation is totally different. I think you have to analyse your business drivers first and then wrap the technology around that as it fits best.

My first question would be – what’s the motivator to upgrade? If you are a ZEN7 shop with Windows XP with no plans to move from XP any time in the near future, my advice would be to stay as you are. Why? Well as Windows 7 has been brought forward considerably by the relative failure of Windows Vista, in many cases there is no pressing need to support Windows Vista workstations in the enterprise. If you take a look at Novell’s Support Lifecycle page for ZENworks, you will see that ZEN7 is supported until the end of August 2010 and then stays in Extended Support until the end of August 2012. What do these support phases mean? The short answer is that regular support is just that – service requests against the product by Novell, bug fixes, security releases, new TIDs, service packs etc.

Extended Support is what is available for customers on the higher level support plans, generally where you have PSEs or ASEs on your account. If you have Premium Support, you can continue to raise SRs and get defect fixes until the end of the Extended Support phase. So if you’re in this category, you needn’t worry too much about moving to ZCM until perhaps early 2011, which is a good two years off.

On the other hand, ZCM has not had the best of starts. From it’s release up until Christmas last year, there seemed to be a major release of bug fixes every month. It’s quite a departure from what you’re used to with “traditional” ZENworks, and I would strongly recommend attending any courses you can get on the product before you even throw it up in the lab for testing. There are many major differences from “traditional” ZENworks, including :-

– ZCM content repository for applications and content

– ZCM holds all configuration information in a backend SQL database (Sybase by default, NO MySQL support as yet)

– ZCM can operate in a “pure” Microsoft AD environment (as some customers already do)

– Much of the ZEN nomenclature changes – we now talk of “bundles”, “content servers”, “deployment stages” and “baselines”

I hope to write further postings as we go along to help current “traditional” ZEN customers decide when and if ZCM is suitable, but for now, this is a good start!

02-Dec-08

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Well bugger me, a post on Linux (amongst other things). If you’re in the world of Linux, and more specifically in the world of Novell’s Linux product offerings, you may wish to know where in the development cycle SLED11 is, as Novell to my knowledge have made no real announcements (other than the usual “coming soon” crap). In case you don’t know, SLED (and for that matter SLES) are the harder Kray twins of what comes from the openSUSE movement. At the moment, this group is days away from releasing the latest iteration of openSUSE, version 11.1.

Historically, NLD (as was) and SLED have been inextricably linked to the progress of the “free” variety of SUSE Linux, and this is still the case. NLD was based on SUSE Linux 9.1 and SLED based on 10.1. So you can see here already a picture is forming – if we extrapolate this further, we can deduce that SLED11 will be based on openSUSE 11.1. There are a couple of things to mention here, firstly that is assumption is correct – Although openSUSE is days away from release, the same codebase for SLED11 is currently at Beta 5 as I write. I’m not on the official beta test program, but as I work for a Novell partner, I do have access to the code itself. My guess would be that sometime mid-January or early February, you will see a public beta, with the big fanfare reserved for Novell’s annual festival of geek, BrainShare.

The other thing to mention about this is that as we have observed that previous enterprise versions of desktop linux have been based on “free” SUSE Linux versions 9.1 and 10.1 and SLED11 will be based on 11.1, it seems fair (and accurate) to assume that SLED12 will be based on openSUSE 12.1. OK so far, but then again, so what? Well this also means that we can be pretty accurate on the future roadmap of when this product can be expected.

openSUSE follows an interesting development cycle, much the same as other distros such as Ubuntu and Fedora. Essentially, then development cycle and release dates are set well in advance and the code basically always ships on time as up until late beta stages, the development carries on in a state of flux until which point the distro vendir locks down the versions and functionality and makes sure polish is applied and no showstopping bugs are in there. What you then get is a guaranteed new version of the distro every six months.

Clearly this is not to everyone’s liking, hence the enterprise versions. In this case, we had SLED10 in July 2006, we will most likely see SLED11 in March 2009. 2 1/2 years is around the optimum time between releases, in my opinion. Compare this with the devlopment hell that was Windows Vista. Late, buggy, bloated and promised features (WinFS) stripped out before the end and shunted to future releases. What have Microsoft learned from this? Well, they already brought forward the release of Windows 7 to “sometime” 2009 (probably Christmas). They’ve also said it’s just called Windows 7. Not Vista, Keith or Dave. Just 7. They’ve removed some bloat (mainly because they need to compete in the netbook space without XP). In all, they’ve looked at the Linux development lifecycle and decided it might work for them.

So what’s new in SLED11? As much as I’ve seen (which isn’t a great deal), take openSUSE 11.1, add Novell branded graphics and some Novell centric apps such as GroupWise (version 7, 8 won’t be in there I don’t think) and GroupWise IM and that’s pretty much it. Maybe they will put some extra work into the networking stack so that it can be incorporated into an AD or eDirectory environment, but that’s all. The main time lag behind 11.1 will be the test and beta phases, which are much more limited in the “free” product.

I’ve also never liked the idea that the openSUSE product is somewhat or in any way deficient or inferior to the SLED product. Some commentators like to say that the openSUSE releases are “only for gurus” or for “brave people only”. What rot. If you’re competent using graphical user interfaces, you can use it just fine. Also, there’s no implication in there that the software is ropey, it all just works.

That’s the Linux stuff out of the way, now to the Manchester Congestion Charge Referendum. JUST SAY NO! The government state that we can have £1.3bn funding for public transport improvements, but this can only be found if we vote yes. Hmm..On the other hand, the same government can find countless billions to bail out banks that nearly went bust owing to “wanker bankers who played poker with other people’s money” (credit to David Mitchell). Sorry, I’m not voting for another hideous tax when we pay enough tax as it is. Make the money go further or bugger off and give us a government that realises you need to run the country’s transport system at a loss because that way the country can reap the benefit of a first class system designed to get a person from A to B as quickly as possible as cheaply as possible and not this decades old thinking that it must generate some kind of profit in order to be sustainable.

19-Nov-08

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Interesting last few days that gave me a real flush of nostalgia. Firstly someone I used to go to school with got in touch for the first time in over 10 years. I’m usually quite critical of Facebook (even though I am on it), but in this case, I would never have re-connected with this person after such a long time. It’s really cool to see the reaction when you tell them you’ve been married for 10 years, have two boys, one of which is nearly ten!

On the other hand, you have the surprise of finding out this person has a daughter and lives near to where you were born and spent the first 20 years of your life. Amazing! It’s really given me a warm feeling to know this person is doing very well and also that they have fond memories of our time together at school!

The other blast from the past was last night at the Manchester Academy. I went to see Extreme, the first time they’ve been in Manchester since 1995.  They seemed genuinely moved by the reaction they got from the crowd, which is always a good thing to see. I didn’t really know any of the new stuff they played, but they put on a great show in a small venue, so a good night – with the exception of ringing ears when I came out!

For pics of the gig, visit the usual place.

06-Nov-08

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Another horrendously long time since my last blog post. I did of course leave MMU for pastures new, and it’s the best move I’ve ever made. I felt drained in my old post, stressed, devalued etc. but my new post has given me a massive shot of new life. I’m now VMWare VCP certified, I’ve submitted my BrainShare ’09 paper and things are going well.

Writing this in deepest Luton as I’m with a customer and Novell tomorrow as we try to sort out a long standing issue. Hopefully all goes to plan and I’m not leaving for home when it’s gone dark!

31-Aug-08

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So I’m heading into September, which means I have less than a month to go at MMU. For a while, it’s been a bit strange having handed in my notice but having to keep going for two months before I can move on. Often at times like this, you spend odd moments snatched away from every day life to wonder if you are doing the right thing. This is entirely human and entirely expected. I don’t think I can give MMU any more than I’ve given in the last decade, and conversely, MMU has nothing left to give me.

Thankfully other avenues exist, and it’s been surprising and flattering that I have allies in several places who rate me highly enough to have opened doors to move on. As it stands, I still believe the choice I have made to move to Salford Software is the correct one. I want a job,  not a career. I suppose it will sink in around 10am on my first day in my new job that I’m somewhere different after spending a third of my life with one employer. Sounds bad when you phrase it like that!

What else? A trip to Vienna next week for the annual pan European GUG get together. It’s an interesting time as it serves to highlight the many cultural differences between the UK and the rest of mainland Europe. For example, they are still very excited about GroupWise 8 and Teaming “PLUS” Conferencing (you aren’t allowed to say “and”, I’m told), whereas in the UK we’ve already dropped off our perches in boredom as we’ve seen the new bits for over a year now (two BrainShares in fact, get a move on!).

BrainShare was a little depressing this year after last year’s virgin effort. I had this idea that Novell needed something big to launch at the event. I don’t know how I got there, but pretty quickly I latched onto the idea of the “Magnificent Seven”. You could have a cheesy Clint-a-like come on stage in a poncho (Fistful Of Dollars era, naturally!) and take out some Microsoft looking wimp. Then I thought, what would be the seven products you could use? What about :-

– GroupWise

– Open Enterprise Server

– IDM

– Sentinel

– Teaming PLUS (for f**ks sake) Conferencing (even though I don’t rate it)

– eDirectory

– SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop/Server

At the every least it’s a concept that attendees can identify with and get behind. I still think Novell is a good company with good technology, but they’re far too nice and have an over reliance these days on the Faustian pact with Microsoft.

09-Jun-08

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I’m not pleased with the way that the BBC are reporting the Barry George appeal. I know the murder of Jill Dando was particularly cold blooded and cruel (as are most murders) and I know that many BBC staff will feel a strong personal tie with the story, but it doesn’t mean that you can report circumstantial evidence as cast iron proof the man did it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – he might be a loser and a wierdo, but it doesn’t make him a killer. There were no witnesses, no forensics and no smoking gun. Let the man out and take the time to do the job properly.

On a Citrix course this week and looking into the CCA certification. Pretty good product, wish I’d looked at it sooner. Also, Manchester City Council get the decision on the congestion charge. What a waste of time. Stop taxing us to death before someone goes postal with an Uzi, US-style.

01-Jun-08

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Wow, June already. So I did Christmas, 2 x Broken Arms, New Year and BrainShare ’08. Then I did the Great Manchester Run 10K in just under an hour, finally completed the master bedroom makeover (very sore now, all over).

Saw Joe Satriani at the Apollo and Mark Knopfler at the MEN, bought a new Dell laptop (more later) and um…well, I think that’s it. Doesn’t look like a lot when you cram it all into two paragraphs I suppose, but there you go, life is often more hectic than you give it credit for.

Now then, the laptop. The short story is that I bought a Dell with 3GB RAM, Dual Core, 250GB HDD, blah blah. It came with Windows Vista, which I was expecting, so I took the decision to stay with Vista and not downgrade to XP or even trash the beast and install openSUSE.

Why did I do this? I’ve been part of the vocal group that has criticised Vista from the day it shipped. There’s no doubt it’s carrying too much timber, but I have to say that I added SP1, and I’ve had no issues with it at ll so far. So much so that I don’t see me going to openSUSE11 any time soon. Why is that? Well, the devil is in the detail, and really for an OS to be workable, you need the applications. Whilst Linux can do wine and apps such as iTunes-alike Banshee, it doesn’t have the real things, and that is the killer. The apps drive the platform.

It’s something I argued at BrainShare 2007, it’s less about the underlying OS and more about the applications people need to do their jobs, coursework, novel writing, number crunching, accounting, designing, photo management, iPod manipulating etc.

Yes, we have Banshee and Amarok and F-Spot and GIMP and OpenOffice and others, but with possibly the latter’s exception, we don’t have the originals, the “real McCoys”. What gets me about something like iTunes for example, is that Mac OSX is a *nix variant, but Apple refuse to port it to Linux. Why not? Is it that much more difficult than getting it onto Windows? Theoretically, no.

Also, Linux still has issues with package management. I can’t speak for the other distros as I haven’t checked them out in some time,  but openSUSE has taken some steps in the right direction with 1-click-install. Great idea, well implemented. I also gather that openSUSE 11 has made huge strides with the speed of the package management and patching, which became a total millstone when you were plugged into several different repositories.

Finally, Linux, stop calling your software stupid names – call it something meaningful to it’s purpose. Yes, I know it’s cute in a geeky kind of way to give an app a silly name (Pratchett influenced no doubt), but look elsewhere – iTunes for um..tunes, PhotoShop for um..photos, Outlook for mail. Ahem, OK, bad example with the last one. For someone completely new to Linux, what is Banshee? What is GIMP? What is F-Spot? How do I know what these apps do just by looking at them? Do I need to install them?

This sounds a little negative on Linux, it isn’t. Open source has made amazing strides in the last couple of years alone, and now it’s making an impression on the market with the likes of the EeePC, it’s growth can only accelerate. That said, remember the cliche that “never let the facts get in the way of a good story”? I’ve been using Windows Vista for several days – no performance issues, no driver support issues, no BSOD, no limping along (granted, it’s a beefy laptop – it’s a pain on a Celeron, but wouldn’t anything be?).

23-May-08

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Never let it be said that just because I don’t blog, I haven’t been doing anything. Quite amongst anything else, this is what has been going on lately :-

– Completed the Great Manchester Run 10K in 59 minutes and 17 seconds. Woot!

– Bought a new Dell Inspiron 1525 with Windows Vista on it (not going to scrap it, either!)

– Went on a VMWare course (good, but not worth two grand!)

– Rebuilding the bedroom at home, new carpets, curtains, bed, cupboards et al

And I’m sure there’s more, but I can’t think what at the moment. Finally, thanks to those who sponsored me on the GMR – I raised around £200 for Cancer Research.