Bright Talk. 715vw.pdf (application/pdf Object) Why Don't IT Departments Give Employees More Freedom? Image by opensource.com Do you feel hamstrung by your company’s IT policies? Are the IT tools you have at home more up-to-date than ones you’re forced to use at work? Do you wish you had more control over your IT environment at work? If so, you’re not alone. A while back in the Wall Street Journal, Nick Wingfield dared to question the totalitarian policies of the average corporate IT department–and boy-oh-boy does he make some good points. How is it that employees can be trusted to take care of important customers, safeguard expensive equipment and stay within their budgets, but can’t be trusted to use the Web at work, choose their own IT tools, or download programs onto the workplace PCs?
Do IT staffers really believe that conscientious, committed employees turn into crazed, malicious hackers when you give them a bit of freedom over their IT environment? Open Source Social Platforms: 10 of the Best. As social sites grow in popularity, so does the desire for smaller niche-based networks that cater to smaller groups of people. Just look at the rise of social networks for chess players and wine. What's more, with the latest open source software, smaller sites can be built in a matter of days or weeks. Here are 10 open source software platforms on which to carve out your niche. If there's one site people love to emulate with their own niche versions, it's Digg. Fortunately, there are good platforms to do just that. Pligg It seems that every hour, a new Pligg-based site is born.
NewsCloud NewsCloud is another content management system that has a story ranking feature. Drupal with Vote up/down module Most know Drupal as one of the more popular open source content management systems available. Dolphin Dolphin, from Boonex, is a popular free community-building application that is being used for a number of dating sites. PHPizabi Elgg Mugshot AroundMe GetBoo Scuttle More suggestions? Some Thoughts on Clustering SQL Server Virtual Machines. On my blog post Virtualizing SQL on VMware Reference List, Oscar Zamora (Blog | Twitter) asked the following question in a comment: As a virtualized instance has the benefit of "failing over" to another physical box, would you consider clustering a virtualized instance? The answer to this question more than I want to write up in a comment, so I decided instead to blog my response. Since at least ESX 3, VMware has provided a number of high availability features in their enterprise server virtualization product.
A detailed listing of the HA features available in VSphere 4 can be found in the vSphere Availability Guide. High Availability and DRS Clusters ESX hosts can be clustered together providing high availability from the hardware failure of a host for the guests running inside of the cluster. VMware High Availability: Easily Deliver High Availability for All of Your Virtual Machines VMware High Availability: Concepts, Implementation, and Best Practices Fault Tolerance. Firecontrol shows how much Major Projects Authority is needed. When an investigative team from BBC File on 4 went to a business estate near Taunton, they saw an empty “hi-tech fortress” that looked like a NASA control room. Nobody was working there. Nearly an entire wall of the control room was fitted with 50-inch monitors – 20 of them. They were blank. That centre – and a further eight purpose-built buildings like it – remain empty because control room software has yet to be installed.
The £469m wasted on the centres and the failed IT project to support them – together called Firecontrol – was the subject yesterday of a hearing of the Public Accounts Committee. Mistaken recommendation At the hearing Sir Bob Kerslake, Permanent Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government, said that officials made a “mistaken” recommendation to go-ahead of a new IT and control centres for fire services. No finalised business case or project plan Rush to buy new systems – as with the NHS IT scheme Said Kerslake: “It was clearly part of the discussion. Comment: TechRadar UK | Technology News And Reviews. Microsoft Kills Skype For Asterisk. Microsoft open sources code to calm wifi snooping fears.
PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Microsoft has taken the unusual step of open sourcing code that it uses to collect WiFi access point data in a bid to calm privacy fears. Microsoft, like Apple and Google, collects WiFi access point data in order to provide location aware services. However both Apple and Google got into hot water after the practice became widesly known and Microsoft hopes that by providing the source code of the data collection application it uses, the public will view the practice with less suspicion. Although Microsoft hasn't released the full source code for its data collection application, the firm said, "The source code demonstrates both the type and amount of data we collect when surveying Wi-Fi access points through managed driving.
" It's interesting that Microsoft has decided to open source code in a bid to make its data collection procedures appear more transparent, perhaps realising that its word was not good enough to satisfy a skeptical public. The IT Service Management Forum UK (itSMF) - Home.