Bryan Lunduke
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Bryan Lunduke
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Lunduke’s Theory of Computer Mockery — no technology is sacred
“Any sufficiently popular, or important, computer technology will be mercilessly mocked 20 years later.” I call that Lunduke’s Theory of Computer Mockery. (Yes, I named it after myself. Because… why not?)The more important the technology, the more ruthlessly and brutally it will be mocked. It helps if the technology was, itself, a bit flawed when new. But even when a piece of tech is well received initially, 20 years later it will be fully brutalized. Let’s take a look at some examples: Windows 95 Would you use Windows 95 in 2017? Of course not. Would you make fun of it without regard for its feelings? Of course you would. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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MINIX — The most popular OS in the world, thanks to Intel
Take a look at your desktop computer. What operating system is it currently running? Now take a look in your data center — at all of your servers. What operating system are they running? Linux? Microsoft Windows? Mac OS X? You could be running any of those three — or one of countless others. But here’s the crazy part: That’s not the only operating system you’re running. If you have a modern Intel CPU (released in the last few years) with Intel’s Management Engine built in, you’ve got another complete operating system running that you might not have had any clue was in there: MINIX. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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MINIX — The most popular OS in the world, thanks to Intel
Take a look at your desktop computer. What operating system is it currently running? Now take a look in your data center — at all of your servers. What operating system are they running? Linux? Microsoft Windows? Mac OS X? You could be running any of those three — or one of countless others. But here’s the crazy part: That’s not the only operating system you’re running. If you have a modern Intel CPU (released in the last few years) with Intel’s Management Engine built in, you’ve got another complete operating system running that you might not have had any clue was in there: MINIX. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Linux command line tools for working with non-Linux users
I spend most of my computing life in the Shell (command line, terminal or whatever you want to call it on your platform of choice). This can be a bit challenging, though, when I need to work with large groups of other people, especially in big enterprise companies that — well — use anything but the Shell.The problems that crop up are made worse when other people within your company use a different platform than you. I tend to use Linux. If I’m doing a lot of my daily work from a Linux terminal and the bulk of my co-workers use Windows 10 (entirely from the GUI side), things can get … problematic.Also on Network World: 11 pointless but awesome Linux terminal tricks Luckily, over the past few years, I’ve figured out how to deal with these problems. I’ve found ways to make using a Linux (or other Unix-like systems) Shell much more doable within a non-Unix, corporate environment. These tools/tips apply equally well for SysAdmins working on a company’s servers as they do for developers or marketing people.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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History of computers, part 2 — TCP/IP owes a lot to Xerox PUP
To understand where we are going, we first must understand where we have been. This applies equally well to the history of nations across the globe as it does to computers and computer networking.With that in mind, we’re taking a slow (somewhat meandering) stroll through the history of how computers talk to each other. Last time, we talked a bit about dial-up Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) – popular through the 1980s and the bulk of the 1990s.Also on Network World: The hidden cause of slow Internet and how to fix it Today, I’d like to talk about one of the most influential, but rarely discussed, networking protocol suites: PARC Universal Packet (PUP).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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History of computers, part 2 — TCP/IP owes a lot to Xerox PUP
To understand where we are going, we first must understand where we have been. This applies equally well to the history of nations across the globe as it does to computers and computer networking.With that in mind, we’re taking a slow (somewhat meandering) stroll through the history of how computers talk to each other. Last time, we talked a bit about dial-up Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) – popular through the 1980s and the bulk of the 1990s.Also on Network World: The hidden cause of slow Internet and how to fix it Today, I’d like to talk about one of the most influential, but rarely discussed, networking protocol suites: PARC Universal Packet (PUP).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Server downtime is bad. Server slowness is worse
I've worked at my fair share of large corporations in my life, and like most of you, I've experienced more network and server outages than I can shake a stick at. Sometimes these outages are small and only mildly disruptive (a file server going down for a few minutes). Other times, an outage can cause massive, widespread work stoppages (such as when an email server goes offline for multiple hours — or days). These outages are, at least for the company, bad things. If your employees can no longer communicate, work all but grinds to a halt. One hour of total downtime multiplied by the average hourly pay of your employees can equal a pretty big amount of lost moolah.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Server downtime is bad. Server slowness is worse
I've worked at my fair share of large corporations in my life, and like most of you, I've experienced more network and server outages than I can shake a stick at. Sometimes these outages are small and only mildly disruptive (a file server going down for a few minutes). Other times, an outage can cause massive, widespread work stoppages (such as when an email server goes offline for multiple hours — or days). These outages are, at least for the company, bad things. If your employees can no longer communicate, work all but grinds to a halt. One hour of total downtime multiplied by the average hourly pay of your employees can equal a pretty big amount of lost moolah.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Time to rethink how much customer data you store
Does the company you work for (or own) retain data on customers? Odds are pretty high that it does, at least in some form (often fairly extensively). It's often attractive to do so for both marketing and functionality purposes.But here's the thing, storing that data is probably a bad business decision. One that could cost your business a huge amount of money and, even worse, potential loss of trust by your most valuable customers.Storage costs Just from the IT infrastructure point of view: As your business grows and the amount of data you store on each customer slowly expands (it always does), your cost for storing that data also grows. Rather quickly. Even if your data center is already well equipped, this is a not-insignificant recurring expense (failing drives, energy costs, other equipment needs, etc.).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Time to rethink how much customer data you store
Does the company you work for (or own) retain data on customers? Odds are pretty high that it does, at least in some form (often fairly extensively). It's often attractive to do so for both marketing and functionality purposes.But here's the thing, storing that data is probably a bad business decision. One that could cost your business a huge amount of money and, even worse, potential loss of trust by your most valuable customers.Storage costs Just from the IT infrastructure point of view: As your business grows and the amount of data you store on each customer slowly expands (it always does), your cost for storing that data also grows. Rather quickly. Even if your data center is already well equipped, this is a not-insignificant recurring expense (failing drives, energy costs, other equipment needs, etc.).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Weird IP networks: Internet via birds and ham radios
If you're reading this, you have internet access.You probably have it either through a local cable or fibre ISP or through your cell phone provider. We all have one (usually both) of these.Speedy. Reliable (mostly). Boring.What happens when that infrastructure goes down? Maybe the power goes out somewhere along the network. Maybe a cell tower gets attacked by Godzilla. Who knows? Dangers lurk around every corner. + Also on Network World: When disasters strike, edge computing must kick in + In those cases, when your traditional network connection fails you, you're going to need a backup. Something to get you back up, online and moving data around. And, what the heck, we might as well do it all with as much flair and pizzazz as possible.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Weird IP networks: Internet via birds and ham radios
If you're reading this, you have internet access.You probably have it either through a local cable or fibre ISP or through your cell phone provider. We all have one (usually both) of these.Speedy. Reliable (mostly). Boring.What happens when that infrastructure goes down? Maybe the power goes out somewhere along the network. Maybe a cell tower gets attacked by Godzilla. Who knows? Dangers lurk around every corner. + Also on Network World: When disasters strike, edge computing must kick in + In those cases, when your traditional network connection fails you, you're going to need a backup. Something to get you back up, online and moving data around. And, what the heck, we might as well do it all with as much flair and pizzazz as possible.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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2 options for deciding open computing standards—neither is great
How should open computing standards, such as the protocols and languages that make up much of the core of the internet, be decided on and handled? It’s not an easy question to answer. But the answer has vast and potentially severe ramifications for almost every company on the planet (at least if you rely on your website for doing any percentage of your business). A recent kerfuffle with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the organization responsible for standardizing much of the web that most people use on a daily basis, has caused many to ask for the shut-down of the W3C and the creation of a new standards body. But is that actually a good idea?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Nextcloud’s file storage solution gets a security boost
Nextcloud today released a preview of Nextcloud 13, its online file storage solution for enterprise and individual users.What makes this release so interesting? End-to-end file encryption.When we’re talking about the needs of big businesses, keeping files secure is absolutely critical. There has been no shortage of data breaches and hacks in recent months – reliable encryption and security is absolutely vital to reducing those problems. + Also on Network World: 4 ways to simplify data management + From Jos Poortvliet, member of the Nextcloud, team:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Nextcloud’s file storage solution gets a security boost
Nextcloud today released a preview of Nextcloud 13, its online file storage solution for enterprise and individual users.What makes this release so interesting? End-to-end file encryption.When we’re talking about the needs of big businesses, keeping files secure is absolutely critical. There has been no shortage of data breaches and hacks in recent months – reliable encryption and security is absolutely vital to reducing those problems. + Also on Network World: 4 ways to simplify data management + From Jos Poortvliet, member of the Nextcloud, team:To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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W3C DRM appeal fails, votes kept secret
Earlier this summer, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) — the organization responsible for defining the standards that make up the Web — decided to embrace DRM (aka "EME") as a web standard. I wasn’t happy about this. I don’t know many who were.Shortly after that, the W3C agreed to talk with me about the issue. During that discussion, I encouraged the W3C to increase their level of transparency going forward — and if there is an appeal of their DRM decision, to make that process completely open and visible to the public (including how individual members of the W3C vote on the issue).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Easy data storage services are like fast food
Recently I made the (unfortunate) decision to eat at a particular fast-food establishment. For the sake of this story, let’s call it Shmurger Shming.I didn’t eat at The Shming because the food tastes amazing. Nor did I choose to ingest those Shmurgers because I thought it was, in any way, healthy for me. In fact, I knew full well that eating them would cause not insignificant amounts of gastronomical distress.Which begs the question: Why, on this green Earth, would I make that decision? Why would I do that to myself?Simple. It was convenient, there was very little up-front investment (in time and money), and it was food. Technically. In other words, I was lazy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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Easy data storage services are like fast food
Recently I made the (unfortunate) decision to eat at a particular fast-food establishment. For the sake of this story, let’s call it Shmurger Shming.I didn’t eat at The Shming because the food tastes amazing. Nor did I choose to ingest those Shmurgers because I thought it was, in any way, healthy for me. In fact, I knew full well that eating them would cause not insignificant amounts of gastronomical distress.Which begs the question: Why, on this green Earth, would I make that decision? Why would I do that to myself?Simple. It was convenient, there was very little up-front investment (in time and money), and it was food. Technically. In other words, I was lazy.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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History of computers, part 1 — The bulletin board system
One weird little quirk about being human is that we (as a group) tend to think things have been the way they currently are for a lot longer than they actually have been — and that they're not likely to change.Even the most hard and well-backed-up science tends to change with the proverbial wind. Example: Cholesterol ... good or bad? See? Things (and ideas) change. Fast. And often we don't think they've changed at all. Sometimes it's good to sit back and look at how things have already changed — to see how things might change in the future.Let's apply that to servers. Computers serving up bits of data to other computers. What did those look like 10 years ago? 20? 50? In this article series, let's look over each major era and type of servers, in no particular order — I'll be bouncing around a bit as I tell the story of "Computer Servers."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
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History of computers, part 1 — The bulletin board system
One weird little quirk about being human is that we (as a group) tend to think things have been the way they currently are for a lot longer than they actually have been — and that they're not likely to change.Even the most hard and well-backed-up science tends to change with the proverbial wind. Example: Cholesterol ... good or bad? See? Things (and ideas) change. Fast. And often we don't think they've changed at all. Sometimes it's good to sit back and look at how things have already changed — to see how things might change in the future.Let's apply that to servers. Computers serving up bits of data to other computers. What did those look like 10 years ago? 20? 50? In this article series, let's look over each major era and type of servers, in no particular order — I'll be bouncing around a bit as I tell the story of "Computer Servers."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here