Businesses

Small, Virtual Sysadmin Services? 63

Posted by Cliff from the half-of-a-sysadmin dept.
treesim asks: "I work for a tiny research company of five employees, with a growing need for a system administrator. However, our needs are unlikely to ever require a full time person, so I'm wondering if small, offsite sysadmin services exist (something like virtual assistants, since the larger corporate-sized outfits are just too much). On one hand, this seems an obvious niche to be filled by entrepreneurial moonlighters, but there are a ton of questions regarding trust. Nonetheless, we already have good relationships with offsite bookkeeping and payroll services. Am I just being naive, or does anyone have experience with outsourcing small-scale sysadmin tasks?"
Patents

Blackberry Blackout Threat to Software as Service? 156

Posted by Zonk from the executives-uncoupled dept.
TheIndifferentiate writes "In light of how CEOs are reacting to a possible court injunction which could shutdown their RIM BlackBerry service, what impact do you think this will have on the 'Software as a Service' business model? The conventional wisdom in some commercial software corners has it that the threat of patent litigation should stop Open Source Software development in its tracks. If my business depends on an OSS application, and it gets shut down, I can potentially go on about my business as I have the executables and wouldn't have to stop using them until someone came knocking at my door. If an SaaS application gets shut down and my business depends on it, I'm dead in the water. Seems like one of the prime arguments against OSS also takes out SaaS too. Rhetorically speaking, how could a commercial ISV in good faith talk any business out of an OSS application and into an SaaS application?"
Education

Training - A Company or a Worker's Responsibility? 709

Posted by Cliff from the extra-work-for-extra-responsibility dept.
r0wan asks: "I'm currently working as a Microsoft Systems Administrator. Through a series of bungled management decisions, have found myself responsible for a Windows Server 2003 Active Directory network, that I know nothing about (the person who was sent for training was: not the Microsoft point person, as I was; and left the company, soon after the domain upgrade). It doesn't look as though training will be forthcoming, and I've just been moved from the lab, where I was training myself while simultaneously handling the domain. I've got the MCSA/MCSE Training Kit, but recently I've found numerous errors, so many that I was sent a free Press Kit book, for submitting all of the errors I had found. Between management's reluctance to shell out for training, and being moved from the lab, I'm getting the distinct sense that training is something I'm expected to take care of, on my own time. Is this the de-facto standard within IT, and for all jobs within IT? If so, how do you Slashdot readers keep up with your continuing education, while still maintaining a personal life? Is it naive to try to leave my work at work?"
Technology

SCSI vs. SATA In a File Server? 303

Posted by Cliff from the mature-and-tested-vs-"wave-of-the-future" dept.
turboflux asks: "I'm currently in the process of replacing an aging file server with something more robust. Company-wide, there will be about 100 people who could be using this server, but I don't imagine there being more than 50 concurrent users. Right now, I'm torn between spending alot on SCSI hardware, much like our other servers, or spending less, but getting more space, with SATA II drives. Whatever I decide, the server will be setup with a RAID 1+0 array for the numerous benefits it offers. Does Slashdot have opinions or suggestions on performance, reliability, and stability?"
Hardware Hacking

A Webserver on Your Cellphone? 61

Posted by Cliff from the what-would-you-do-with-it dept.
Mad_Rain asks: "I saw over on Make Magazine an article about using your cell phone on the Internet, except instead of browsing the web from your cell, you can serve webpages from your phone. Of course, it uses Apache, Python and a Nokia S60 series cell phone. I can imagine a couple of creative applications for webservers in strange places, but what else can be done with this?"
Music

An Accurate ID3 Tag Database? 139

Posted by Cliff from the battle-of-the-genres dept.
Andy Le Couteur Bisson asks: "Can anyone suggest an ID3 tag database that doesn't label everything from Gabber to Ambient as Electronica & Dance, or worse? I am currently ripping more of my CD collection and it is annoying to have to review and edit almost all of the tags after every session. The odd error or difference of opinion is understandable, but I struggle to comprehend the logic that categorizes The Liberators and Luke Slater as R&B (for the uninitiated they are Techno). I guess I'm looking for a more UK centric database but Googling hasn't helped much, thus far."
Wireless Networking

State of WLAN Support on Linux? 608

Posted by Cliff from the plug-and-play? dept.
ntropic asks: "I/ve recently bought a Belkin 802.11G USB adapter and was dismayed to find, after a few hours of struggling with it, that there seems to be no one who has managed to get it working under Linux. During the search for clues, it seemed that sum total of Linux support for wireless networking are the linux-wlan project, and the linuxant wrappers for Windows drivers. The former seems to support only Prism chipsets while the latter is a commercial solution, albeit quite an inexpensive one. Is that all, or are there better sources for wireless networking support?"
Classic Games (Games)

Chess for Kids? 149

Posted by Cliff from the a-learning-experience dept.
cyberbian asks: "My six year old daughter has recently expressed an interest in chess. We have been playing a few games, but I fear that I'm not the best teacher for such a venerable game. Is there any software that the Slashdot community would recommend for learning the mechanics and structures of good chess?"
Data Storage

Other Uses for Wiki Software? 113

Posted by Cliff from the unintended-applications-for-software dept.
CodeMonkey22 asks: "The much-discussed Wikipedia could be considered the quintessential definition of what Wiki software is capable of. More recently, however, a plethora of specialized reference websites, such as Wookieepedia (Star-Wars) and the Marvel Database (Marvel Comics), have popped up. This got me to thinking, are websites the only viable use for wiki software? Working in an IT department, the first alternative that came to my mind was an intranet knowledge-base. TWiki, for instance, touts itself as 'an Enterprise Collaboration Platform'. What other uses could take advantage of Wiki? What changes would be needed to make it more applicable in other areas of use?"
Security

Is Obsolescence Good Computer Security? 490

Posted by Cliff from the you'd-have-to-step-into-the-present-eventually dept.
caesar-auf-nihil asks: "I was recently considering a switch from dial-up to something faster (either cable or DSL) but my friend recommended against it since he said I was more secure staying with Dial-Up. His argument was that my connection's slowness and 'not always on' connection gave me better security since I was less of a target for many security threats. Now, I have never gotten infected, nor do I believe my machine is infested with spyware and/or controlling programs as it runs fine, but I wonder if the obsolescence argument is really good or not. Does Dial-Up really protect you or is this a false sense of security and I should just go ahead and pick a faster service and make sure my firewall is a good one and my virus definitions are always up to date?"
Data Storage

Full Featured Pocket Hard Drives? 101

Posted by Cliff from the numerous-gigs-in-the-palm-of-your-hand dept.
Lifix asks: "I've recently been asked to be caregiver to about 150 Apple desktops. While building my software kit to handle these machines, I realized that I would need a good portable hard drive to restore the machines from when they crashed. Cost really isn't an issue but I only need enough room for 3 partitions each with restore images of less than 10 gigs, so a 40g drive would be fine. It doesn't have to be designer, it just has to work. Does anyone have any suggestions/experience with a drive thats going to be a small form factor (throw it in my messenger bag/toolkit), reliable, bootable, 7200 rpm (!important!) and support Firewire400/800 and USB 2.0?"
Programming

When Should You Stop Support for Software? 438

Posted by Cliff from the limited-resources-and-hard-decisions dept.
hahafaha asks: "I am currently working on a website for a small organization. We (I am not alone in this) have a beta version ready, and are currently testing the site on browsers. We have tried all of the big browsers (Firefox, IE, opera), as well as other browsers, such as lynx, links, w3m and even NetFront. So, when can one decide that they will stop supporting a system. Obviously, going (for example) down to IE 1 is crazy, but is IE 3 crazy? This is not only relevant to web design but to any programming at all. When, for example, can you say that I will *not* support a certain version of Windows. Can you say that now about Windows 98? How about 95?"
Data Storage

Offline Storage for Hard Drives? 47

Posted by Cliff from the where-to-put-your-removable-platters dept.
rrsipov asks: "I work at a small company that processes a good deal of DV (mainly) format video. After trying a number of different technologies we have settled down to using removable hard drives for file storage and backup. When a set of projects are complete, the hard disk they are stored on can be removed and stored offline so that the material is available in for possible future use. The problem is that unlike tapes, etc... we haven't been able to find any good storage cabinet type solutions, and have resorted to a pretty much ad-hoc system of filing the drives. Does Slashdot know of any such system? Ideally we'd like to start with something small, and scale from there if we like the system."
Security

Getting Fingerprint Readers to Read Your Prints? 88

Posted by Cliff from the worse-than-pesky-smartcards dept.
crypticgeek asks: "I recently obtained a new job, and I'm already at my wit's end. Many of the doors in our facility have finger print readers because they are high security areas. No matter how hard I've tried, I can't get the system to read my prints very well, since they aren't well 'defined'. This means I don't have access to the areas I need to. I have to have someone else let me in to secure areas. I've tried using lotion thinking they were too dry, but that didn't work. In fact, most of the time my hands are really sweaty. Someone suggested I use nail polish remover and that would 'raise' the print, however I'm skeptical. Has anyone else had problems with finger print devices, or know of some possible ways of getting a better read?"
Businesses

Is There Still Racism in IT Hiring Practices? 1085

Posted by Cliff from the skin-color-shouldn't-matter dept.
noahz asks: "Today [now three days ago] in the United States marks Martin Luther King Day, remembering the birthday - and legacy - of the great civil rights leader. It's been over 40 years since his march on Washington, back when IT was still in its infancy and was exclusively a white, male field. But, how much progress has been made in the IT world? I recently had a recruiter tell me that I would have no problem finding a job in the current economy - not because I am enthusastic, well-educated and have good experience - but because I am caucasian - 'white'. This particular recruiter insisted that his years experience has led him to this conclusion - but I wonder: what the collective experience of the Slashdot readership has found?"
Programming

Desperately Seeking Documentation? 67

Posted by Cliff from the equally-good-with-pen-as-with-a-keyboard dept.
Interrobang asks: "I'm a longtime Slashdot reader, who isn't a programmer. I'm one of programmers' symbiotic (parasitic?) life-forms -- a freelance technical writer. I'd like to know from the programmers, IT managers, and similar others in the crowd: If you were searching the Internet for a technical writer, what kinds of search terms would you use? What sites would you check? Where and how would you start looking?"
Security

Has Corporate Info Security Gotten Out of Hand? 466

Posted by Cliff from the proper-security-is-like-walking-on-monowire dept.
KoshClassic asks: "What is the right balance between security and productivity, in the corporate IT environment? Looking back at my company, 10 years ago, our machines were connected directly to the Internet, no proxy, no firewall, no antivirus software. Today, my company's proxy server blocks access to: 'bad' web sites (such as Google Groups; our 'antivirus' software prevents our machines (even machines that host production applications) from carrying out legitimate functions, such as the sending of email via SMTP; and individual employees are forced to apply security patches with little or no notice, under threat of their machines loosing network access, if they do not comply by the deadline. On one hand, you can never be too secure, however on the other hand, have we become so secure that we're stifling our own ability to get things done? What is the situation like at other companies?"
Privacy

Safe Options for Surfing While on the Road? 54

Posted by Cliff from the browsin'-while-truckin' dept.
Sooner Boomer asks: "My oldest brother is an over-the-road truck driver. He subscribes to several wireless services at truck stops (Flying J, Pilot, etc.). I've tried to help him and educate him as much as possible, but he still has two problems; connectivity (poor signal strength) and security. His truck has a fiberglass shell, so that is not the problem. He has to run IE because this is the only browser supported for the log-in process. We've talked about wireless routers with reflectors on the antennas to boost signal strength, and to help with security. I'm still looking for better security though. Are there "live" linux browsers that can be run once a connection is made in windows? It's really gotten annoying because he has to reformat/reinstall about every two-three months. Ideas? Good trucker jokes?"
Databases

MySQL on Windows - Good Idea? 61

Posted by Cliff from the sensible-use-of-resources dept.
mikeballer asks: "We currently run our website from a shared hosting environment, with ASP and MS SQL Server. We will be moving to a dedicated host, and to save money, we are considering transitioning to MySQL while remaining in a Windows environment. I had read the Windows-vs-Unix section of the MYSQL documentation, but what is Slashdot's perspective on the performance of MySQL in a Windows environment?"
Communications

On the Chaotic Evolution of Email? 52

Posted by Cliff from the however-it-was-done-at-least-it-still-works dept.
TheCarlMau asks: "I'm doing research on the origins of email in the 70's and 80's. I'm particularly interested in how this technology was designed and implemented without any planned trajectory (ie: nobody sat down in 1970 and planned to create email as we know it today in 2006). As very little has been written on the history, I'm wondering if the Slashdot community could provide any insights, stories, or first-hand experiences? It seems to me, as a person who did not experience this 'revolution,' that the offspring of the ARPANET technology was hackish and sometimes chaotic. What do you think on this matter?"

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