Primal Issues. What few in the media (but a great many down on the street) are saying about the Virginia Tech massacre is that law enforcement botched the whole thing. Between the time Ho began firing in the dorm and when he started exterminating people in Norris Hall was a gap of two hours, during… Continue reading Primal Issues

Cluster-like Non-Clusters for SMB Messaging Regardless of size, no business can afford to be without e-mail access these days. Combine that with the more and more services we pile on these mail servers and you’ve got the making of a perfect SMB disaster. Mail servers are far more than just “mail”, they drive groupware functionality,… Continue reading Cluster-like Non-Clusters

Required Reading: Microsoft Security Explained. This is not a joke, not a Geek Squad employee recording their customers in the shower, not a deathbed confession of who killed JFK. This is real. This is the most eloquently put illustration of Microsofts incompetence / ignorance. I wish I could write like this but unfortunately I’m the… Continue reading Required Reading: Microsoft Security Explained

CentOS 5 is Out!. Congratulations to the CentOS team. They released CentOS 5.0 today, which is the free version of the Enterprise Linux OS. Basically they take the source for Redhat Enterprise Linux 5.0 and recompile and rebuild a solution so you can install and run it.. Free vs. $3K, easy choice if you know… Continue reading CentOS 5 is Out!

The General-Purpose Storage Revolution. It happened so slowly, most people didn't notice until it was over. I'm speaking, of course, of the rise of general-purpose computing during the 1990s. It was not so long ago that you could choose from a truly bewildering variety of machines. Symbolics, for example, made hardware specifically designed to run… Continue reading The General-Purpose Storage Revolution

Indeed. Easter Sunday. The ancient affirmation “The Lord is risen indeed!” (given in response to the primary Resurrection declaration, “The Lord is risen!”) used to puzzle me a little, but in looking back, I suspect that I was just thinking too small. Anyone who has ever looked at the center of our galaxy through even… Continue reading Indeed

What Highrise has meant to Rails. Highrise is coming up on its 1-month anniversary. It was a fantastic relief to finally get it out and it has been a wonderful experience to see it become the fastest selling product we've ever launched. We had been working on/off on this application for more than a year.… Continue reading What Highrise has meant to Rails

An S O S for 911 Systems in Age of High-Tech. The 911 system has not kept pace with the nation’s rapidly changing communication habits. By SHAILA DEWAN. [NYT > Technology]

VBootkit Bypasses Vista's Code Signing Mechanisms. Interesting work: Experts say that the fundamental problem that this highlights is that every stage in Vista's booting process works on blind faith that everything prior to it ran cleanly. The boot kit is therefore able to copy itself into the memory image even before Vista has booted and… Continue reading VBootkit Bypasses Vista's Code Signing Mechanisms

Wishing Kathy well. We were mortified by the news of Kathy’s death threats. Our Campfire was flush with wtf’s and holy sh*ts. Kathy Sierra is probably the most universally liked blogger among the 37 crew. To see her subjected to this kind of vile, despicable, criminal behavior is heartbreaking Hopefully the guilty will be duly… Continue reading Wishing Kathy well