How Cloud Computing Is Changing the World (Business Week)
A major shift in the way companies obtain software and computing capacity is under way as more companies tap into Web-based applications Read More
Category Archives: IT Infrastructure
How Cloud Computing Is Changing the World
Remove remnants of Vista SP1 installation
Reclaim up to 800M once you are sure you’ll keep Vista SP1…
Remove all remnants of the Windows Vista SP1 installation | Microsoft Windows | TechRepublic.com
VMware to create free version of ESXi hypervisor
VMware to create free version of ESXi hypervisorVMware is moving to create a free version of the VMware ESXi hypervisor. The company’s new CEO also plans to delve deeper into cloud computing and expand VMware’s virtualization technology reach.
The changes to VMware’s core business were announced after the virtualization company released … numbers [that] were below Wall Street’s expectations—VMware executives said the company now faces additional competition from Microsoft, which could impact future sales and revenue.
The Real Question: Should Oil Be Cheap?
This is not about IT or IT security, but it is still an interesting perspective. From Business week…
The Real Question: Should Oil Be Cheap?
…Amite Foundry’s resurgence is just one of countless examples of a deeper truth: Expensive energy, in many ways, is good. Why? When the price of oil goes up, people will use less, find substitutes, and develop new supplies. Those effects are just basic economics. Things are so painful now, many economists say, because of the past two decades of cheap oil. Prices stayed low in part because they didn’t reflect the full cost of extras such as pollution, so there was little incentive to use energy more wisely. If those extras had been counted, the country would be better prepared for both today’s soaring prices and the day that global oil production begins to decline.
That’s why there is growing interest, from both the left and right, in a policy that uses taxes to put a floor under the price of oil. Above a certain level—say $90—there would be no tax. But if the world market price dropped below that, taxes would kick in to make U.S. users pay the target amount.
Make Desktop Linux Better than Apple — Shuttleworth
Make Desktop Linux Better than AppleMark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical, which makes Ubuntu Linux, called for desktop Linux to improve to the point that its presentation layer is more visually exciting than Apple’s.
Maximum telecommuting: a company with virtual work locations
Everyone Works at Home at software company Chorus[The] company, Chorus, which provides clinical, practice management and financial software for health care providers, has gone virtual. Chorus closed its Hasbrouck Heights headquarters in early June and its other office, in Stafford, Texas (outside of Houston), in early July. Now all of the company’s 35 employees and full-time consultants work at home, and for the most part, they love it.
…The company decided to close its offices to save money and spare employees the hassle and rising cost of commuting and because it had the necessary technology to support such a move. President and CEO A.J. Schreiber says Chorus can continue to serve customers while simultaneously saving $400,000 a year simply by closing its 15,000 square feet of office space. Sure, breaking leases and telecom contracts is costing the company money, but the long-term savings far outweigh those short-term costs, says Schreiber. “We wouldn’t have done this if it would have had a negative impact on our ability to serve customers,” he adds.
Disaster-Recovery Lesson
Disaster-Recovery Lessons from Vancouver Fire - Headline WatchIf you’re working on a disaster-recovery plan, you might take a note from a massive fire in downtown Vancouver, B.C.
CBCNews.ca reports that power isn’t expected to be restored to the area until sometime Tuesday after the explosion of an underground transformer started the fire Monday. The fire created so much heat and smoke that crews from BC Hydro couldn’t inspect the damage until more than seven hours later, according to the Vancouver Sun.
E-mail provider Hushmail reports on its Web site that [name removed] its hosting company switched over to generators. But the fire department drew so much water to fight the fire that it reduced water pressure in the mains to the point that [the] water-cooled generator couldn’t operate. Then it was lights out in more ways than one.
Happily, Hushmail reports its service has since been restored.
