A friend of mine sent this to me who lives outside the U.S.A. Over the years I have been sent me some pretty interesting items. I dont see a copyright notice anywhere or who the artist is. If anyone knows please let me know so I can give them appropriate credit. I thought this amazing. Enjoy.....

HUMAN BEINGS ARE SUCH SMALL CREATURES, AREN'T THEY?
SO DON'T BE TOO  WORRIED ABOUT EVERYTHING,
TREASURE EVERY MOMENT, DO WHAT YOU WISH TO DO.....
BROADEN  YOUR VIEW, BROADEN  YOUR MIND,
DON'T WORRY TOO MUCH  ABOUT THINGS THAT ARE BOTHERING YOU,
DO TREASURE  YOUR LOVED ONES, LIVE SAFELY AND PEACEFULLY,
ALWAYS BE HAPPY TO WELCOME THE COMING OF THE NEW DAY.......  ENJOY  THE SUNSHINE ..
ALWAYS LOOK AT THE BRIGHTER SIDE OF THINGS.....

I hope you enjoyed it. I did, quite a bit.

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

In my Blog Entry  Why Cloud Computing Is Like The Fashion Industry on September 26, 2008 It quoted Larry Ellison Speaking at Oracle OpenWorld.  Larry Ellison said that the computer industry is more fashion-driven than women's fashion and cloud computing is simply the latest fashion.

Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and creator of the computer operating system GNU follows in Larry's footsteps. According to the article

Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman

 

Web-based programs like Google's Gmail will force people to buy into locked, proprietary systems that will cost more and more over time, according to the free software campaigner

 

Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman

Web-based programs like Google's Gmail will force people to buy into locked, proprietary systems that will cost more and more over time, according to the free software campaigner

• Bobbie Johnson, technology correspondent
• guardian.co.uk,
• Monday September 29 2008 14:11 BST

 

According to the Guardian.co.uk article....

But Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and creator of the computer operating system GNU, said that cloud computing was simply a trap aimed at forcing more people to buy into locked, proprietary systems that would cost them more and more over time.

"It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign," he told The Guardian.

"Somebody is saying this is inevitable – and whenever you hear somebody saying that, it's very likely to be a set of businesses campaigning to make it true."

To read the entire article...

Cloud computing is a trap, warns GNU founder Richard Stallman

 

What is clear when you do cloud computing, you are putting your hands and data in the hands of someone else. 

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

When I started to write this Blog entry on the first commercial space flight, I wanted to use the famous words from Astronaut Neal Armstrong and along the way, I learned an interesting fact. Through the use of modern techology, we have learned what Neil Armstrong really said versus what we thought we heard. So let me start with that..

.

One small step for clarity

Researcher discovers that Neil Armstrong had not only the RIGHT IDEA, but the RIGHT WORDS

By MARK CARREAU Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

High-tech detective work apparently has found the missing "a" in one of the most famous phrases ever spoken.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong's first words from the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969, now can be confidently recast, according to the research, as "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

It is the more dramatic and grammatically correct phrasing that Armstrong, 76, has often said was the version he transmitted to NASA's Mission Control for broadcast to worldwide television.

With the technology of the 1960s, however, his global audience heard his comment without the "a," making it "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

To read the entire article  by Mark Carreau in the Houston Chronicle.....

One small step for clarity

Today, SPACEX launced it's first commercial rocket into Orbit. To better understand SPACEEX, I found this press release....

NOTE: This is not SPACEEX!!!!

SPACEX WINS NASA COTS CONTRACT TO DEMONSTRATE CARGO DELIVERY TO SPACE STATION WITH OPTION FOR CREW TRANSPORT

El Segundo CA – August 18, 2006 – SpaceX announced that it was selected by NASA to demonstrate delivery and return of cargo to the International Space Station. At the option of NASA, the Agreement can be extended to include demonstrating transport of crew to and from the International Space Station (ISS). If successful, NASA will have the ability to use the demonstrated capability to resupply the ISS after the 2010 retirement of the Space Shuttle. The SpaceX team mates for COTS include ARES Corporation, MDA Federal Inc., Odyssey Space Research L.L.C., Paragon Space Development Corporation, and SPACEHAB, Inc.

As part of this Agreement, SpaceX will execute three flights of its Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spaceship. These will be the first flights of the Dragon spaceship and the fourth, fifth and sixth flights of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

The missions are scheduled to occur in the late 2008 to 2009 time period and will culminate in demonstrating delivery of cargo to the ISS and safe return of cargo to Earth. The Dragon spaceship is designed from the beginning to have an identical structure for both cargo and crew transport, allowing for a rapid transition from unmanned to manned flight as soon as reliability is proven.

"By stimulating the development of commercial orbital spaceflight, the NASA COTS program will have the same positive effect on space travel as the Air Mail Act of 1925 had on the development of safe and affordable air transportation," said Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO. "Moreover, the requirement for significant private investment and the fact that NASA only pays for objective, demonstrated milestones ensures that the American taxpayer will receive exceptional value for money."

About SpaceX

The Dragon spaceship is designed to transport up to seven astronauts, as well as both pressurized and unpressurized cargo, to Earth orbit and back. Dragon's universal docking adapter allows it to interface with all current ISS docking/berthing systems, as well as future systems under development.

To read the Press Release.....

To quote the AP Press Article.....

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An Internet entrepreneur's latest effort to make space launch more affordable paid off Sunday when his commercial rocket, carrying a dummy payload, was lofted into orbit from the South Pacific.

It was the fourth attempt by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, to launch its two-stage Falcon 1 rocket into orbit.

"Fourth time's a charm," said Elon Musk, the multimillionaire who started up SpaceX after making his fortune as the co-founder of PayPal Inc., the electronic payment system.

The rocket carried a 364-pound dummy payload designed and built by SpaceX for the launch.

"This really means a lot," Musk told a crowd of whooping employees. "There's only a handful of countries on Earth that have done this. It's usually a country thing, not a company thing. We did it."

There a lot more to the AP article, I encourage you to read more...

SpaceX launches 1st commercial rocket into orbit

A lot of great technologies have entered our lives through the space program. Seeing a company like SPACEX making such advancements so quicky, is great news.

The picuture of the man on the Rocket it obviously not SPACEX.

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

I saw an article on computer world that talks about famous Tech Myths. I found it an interesting reading I thought I would share with you...

Opinion: Famous tech myths that just won't die

Here's the scoop on widespread fables about Bill Gates, the iPhone kill switch, Internet2, Al Gore and more

By John Brandon

September 26, 2008 (Computerworld) Have you heard this story?

One day, Bill Gates was standing on a street corner, watching the clouds roll by. Absentmindedly, he dropped a $1,000 bill out of his pocket. A bystander noticed and said, "Are you going to pick that up?"

"No, why would I do that?" Gates responded gruffly, and walked away.

OK, fact or fiction?

While my version adds a little color, it's still just a fable.

You can mix and match the details, but the essence of the myth -- which I'll define as anything grossly inaccurate yet widely regarded as true -- is still there.

It's part fantasy, part fabrication, but wholly inaccurate.

Tech myths come in all shapes and sizes: Some contain a morsel of truth, but many of them are so wildly preposterous that it's hard to imagine anyone taking them seriously.

"A myth generally exists to explain the worldview of a group of people," says Rob Enderle, a consumer analyst. "This means its intent is to convey an idea but not necessarily the whole truth, and given it's conveyed largely from person to person, the initial story can change a great deal."

At the risk of perpetuating Internet-sized myths even more, here are some of the most famous examples of myths, along with some debunking and comments from those in the know.

Bill Gates dropped a $1,000 bill and didn't bother to pick it up

Bill Gates is one of the richest people on the planet, but the myth that he would drop a $1,000 bill and not pick it up probably originated in an e-mail scam. (Click on image for more information about this myth.) (Photo courtesy of World Economic Forum)
There's really no factual evidence for this one. If it happened, there's no way to prove it. Given the fact that the U.S. Treasury stopped producing $1,000 bills during World War II and stopped distributing them in 1969, it seems very unlikely Gates would carry one around. Yet, this and many other myths about Bill Gates -- many of them related to e-mail scams -- seem to become memes faster than other mean-spirited tech gossip.

Apparently, Gates is just an easy target who represents how an average guy (albeit one who is obviously very intelligent) can attain fame and fortune in the tech industry. Those who perpetuate the rumors are probably a little jealous. For its part, Microsoft told me that, officially, it doesn't comment on Bill Gates' personal life.

Another Gates myth is that he said "640k ought to be enough for anybody" when talking about an IBM PC's memory in 1981.

I wont steal the thunder of this article. but I will share one more myth with you. One of my favorites...

Al Gore said he invented the Internet

Al Gore was misquoted. (Click on image for more information about this myth.)
Here's the most famous rumor of them all.

In truth, Al Gore never said he invented the Internet.

What he did say was something to the effect that he encouraged legislation that helped build the foundation of the Internet, as did many other politicians back in the day.

To read the entire article by David Ramel.....

Opinion: Famous tech myths that just won't die

I decided to follow the link to learn more about AL Gore Inventing the internet. Here is what I learned....

It took me to Snopes.com www.snopes.com. Snopes is a site worth a quick look.

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

Internet advertising is a big deal in todays world. This pending deal will effect all of us. I came across this and thought I would share it will everyone...

Myth-busting and the Yahoo!-Google agreement

Posted September 26th, 2008 at 12:23 pm by Sue Decker, President

There’s been a lot of speculation swirling around about the Yahoo!-Google agreement. We hear everything from the claim that Yahoo! and Google will be fixing prices to the prediction that the agreement is a death sentence for Yahoo!’s sponsored search business. Since the critics clearly don’t understand the deal and what it means for Yahoo!, Google, advertisers, and users, it’s time for some myth-busting.

Here’s the bottom line:

• Yahoo! will use this agreement to help us become a stronger competitor in all aspects of online advertising; and
• Yahoo! is not exiting the sponsored search business. We plan to remain a strong player in sponsored search.

What is the agreement?

You may have heard that the agreement gives Google control over 90% of search advertising. That’s just plain wrong. It’s simply a contract that gives Yahoo! the right, but no obligation, to show Google AdSense ads on Yahoo!’s own network. It’s important to note that the agreement is non-exclusive and gives us the option to “backfill” with Google ads if and when we see fit. The reason we structured the deal this way – rather than a more typical exclusive deal with revenue commitments to us and traffic commitments to Google – was precisely to avoid the issues the critics are raising.

Since Yahoo! bought Overture three years ago, we’ve run that business as a closed system. For example, if you want to put a sponsored search ad on a Yahoo! search results page (“SRP”), you have to buy the ad from us. Right now, that’s the only way to access the millions of online customers who visit the Yahoo! network at the key moment when they express their interests by making a search query. Given the size of our user base and the extraordinary diversity of searches they generate, we cannot, by ourselves, provide relevant paid search ads for every search – we can’t “fill up” all of our SRPs.

In fact, no one company can fill them up – not even Google. Yes, you read that right. There are millions of unique queries, like “elevation of Mount Elbert” and many of them are never matched to a relevant sponsored search ad. These “uncovered” queries are missed opportunities for advertisers to directly engage with consumers and for consumers to benefit from relevant offers. Fortunately, Yahoo! has strong “coverage” and “depth” for many queries – meaning we have a good number of ads to display for many searches. However, coverage and depth are not equal for all categories in our marketplaces. One of our key goals is to unlock the huge value of the hundreds of thousands of less popular queries that don’t show ads Yahoo! today.

The “monetization gap” between Google and Yahoo! is in reality a value gap. Where Google is getting higher bids than Yahoo! today, this is because advertisers perceive that Google is delivering more value – more targeted leads, more clicks, and more conversions. That’s why an advertiser might be willing to bid more for a click on Google than for a click on Yahoo! – the belief that the advertiser will get more value from Google. Google is not setting prices. Advertisers determine how to value keywords. Yahoo! is committed to providing advertisers with greater value and consumers with more relevant offers and this agreement helps us meet this challenge more quickly.

Increasing advertiser value is a complicated endeavor. Part of it is technological –- for example, building better matching algorithms. Part of it is giving advertisers more control over their advertising campaigns. But we also want to increase revenue by building query share, which takes time.

In the past year, we have thought about these challenges very carefully and we created a strategy that we’re convinced is a “win win” for Yahoo! and advertisers. The core idea is limited use of Google ads to deliver more value from our SRPs and other inventory in circumstances where we aren’t delivering the best advertiser value today, and then to use resources gained by that strategy to accelerate our investments in the technologies and marketplaces of the future. That’s where the agreement comes in — it allows us to provide better, more valuable connections immediately.

Current thoughts on implementation

We will implement the agreement in a way that respects an important principle you may know as the Hippocratic Oath: “first, do no harm.” That is, we will not use Google ads in a manner that would create a significant risk to the health of our own sponsored search business.

It’s important for us to recognize when using Google ads is beneficial for users and advertisers. Queries for which we have no coverage, low depth, and/or low relative monetization are all circumstances in which backfilling probably makes sense -– they indicate that Yahoo! is not currently delivering enough value for that inventory. If Google can deliver that value where we currently don’t, then everyone wins -– including the advertiser and the consumer.

It’s equally important for us to protect the long-term health of our marketplaces. As we studied this issue, we became acutely aware that our value proposition depends on having an active, “liquid” marketplace of search terms. The good news? Yahoo! has that for the more popular and commercial queries –- the ones that produce over two-thirds of Yahoo!’s search revenues. This is often not the case, however, for less popular “tail” queries.

As we proceed, we’ll hold true to our goal of making Yahoo! a “must buy” for online advertisers. We have no intention of abandoning our key advertiser relationships. To the contrary, we are exploring ways to further strengthen those relationships, and one of the ways we will do that is through our recently announced Digital Advisory Council. We are asking industry executives from our agency and advertiser partners to join us as we explore the continued evolution of digital media and online advertising. We’re going to start by addressing the confusion and misinformation that currently exists in the market regarding Yahoo!’s agreement with Google, which is a hotly debated topic that needs some much-needed clarification.

I’ve said in the past that we’ll backfill where the monetization gap between Yahoo! and Google is the greatest. This gap is the greatest in areas in which we don’t have matches of offers with very specific queries or where our matches are narrow or not relevant. This should only enhance our relevance to consumers and bring new advertisers to our inventory that didn’t do business with us or that made only limited commitments. Our overriding principle to backfill will be those win-win opportunities to backfill our inventory with advertising that clients find valuable but to which they have had scarce access and in other ways that both optimize for user experience and the maintenance of a robust marketplace.

Finally, let me be absolutely clear that we are not in any way going to be coordinating or setting search term pricing with Google. The fact is that advertisers set prices by bidding in our real time auctions. This agreement gives advertisers a new opportunity to bid for placement on an additional network that includes Yahoo! inventory. They will bid for what they think this opportunity is worth at prices that produce positive ROI. That’s how pricing works today in this industry and this agreement won’t change that.

I hope readers of this post, as well as advertisers and regulators, can move past the false rhetoric being peddled by some of our competitors and see the marvelous potential that the agreement offers the marketplace. It’s a great opportunity for Yahoo!, and we’re committed to implementing it in a way that produces the most value for advertisers and users. Ultimately, that’s the only way we can provide value for Yahoo!’s stockholders.

Sue Decker
President

To link back to the original blog entry....

Susan Decker Yahoo President Speaks Out on Google Deal

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

For those of you who could not attend Oracle open world and see the launch first hand. ZDnet on their site, has a great video clip.

Larry Ellison does it again. His latest comment is priceless!!!!!!

I saw this on CNET News.....

Oracle's Ellison nails cloud computing

Posted by Dan Farber

Finally, a technology executive willing to tell the truth about cloud computing. Speaking at Oracle OpenWorld, Larry Ellison said that the computer industry is more fashion-driven than women's fashion and cloud computing is simply the latest fashion. The Wall Street Journal quoted the Oracle CEO's remarks:

"The interesting thing about cloud computing is that we've redefined cloud computing to include everything that we already do. I can't think of anything that isn't cloud computing with all of these announcements. The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women's fashion. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? It's complete gibberish. It's insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?

"We'll make cloud computing announcements. I'm not going to fight this thing. But I don't understand what we would do differently in the light of cloud."

To read the entire article....

  Cnet Article

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

Its so hard in today's information enabled world to determine fact from fiction. Especially when it comes to politcs. What did Barack Obama realy say. What did John McCain really say. I published a blog entry on September 04, 2008 Titled John McCain Versus Barack Obama Comparision. It was my hopes I could provide some useful information on comparing the two. Someone commented that one of the facts was wong. When I asked the if they could validate it somehow, I have not had a response yet.

I was just made aware of a web site, where you can turn too, for factual information on the candidate. It called Factcheck.org.

To better understand this organization and it's charter, here is the about us information. 

Our Mission

We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit, "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.

The Annenberg Political Fact Check is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The APPC was established by publisher and philanthropist Walter Annenberg in 1994 to create a community of scholars within the University of Pennsylvania that would address public policy issues at the local, state, and federal levels.

The APPC accepts NO funding from business corporations, labor unions, political parties, lobbying organizations or individuals. It is funded primarily by the Annenberg Foundation.

As a person who is an active Blogger, I have tried hard to alwasy cite my sources. That practice is not done near enough. There is a very old saying. "Buyer Beware".  In the Internet enabled world, its important you use common sense and just becuase its wrriten down on a web site does not mean its so.

I hope this site comes in handy.

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

I have debated to myself if I should comment on this or not. This is not the first time that Larry Ellison has gone down this path of where Oracle/Larry has invested in a company that builds hardware. What I like about this approach, he is partnering with a company HP that makes hardware.I think this approach will increase the likelyhood of this succeeding. The combination of HP and Oracle is a pretty compelling story.

This approach makes a lot more sense to me, than trying to do it from scratch.  God knows with database growing 3-5 times their size every 3 years. With the application explosion we have seen the success of companies like Netezza. www.netezza.com There is a clear market for this.

Lets not forget my friend’s Foster Hinshaw, President and CEO at Dataupia. www.dataupia.com  When I was building the Ntirety Database Administration Appliance, I met with  Foster for some advice. I was able to look under the covers at Dataupia and was blown away what they had built. I highly reccommend looking at Dataupia products suite. Meeting with Foster, helped Ntirety greatly with the building of our own database appliance.  Ntirety's Database Adminustrators use this specialized appliance to manage our clients Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server databases with.The Ntirety database appliance wakes up every few seconds and asks each database inour care, are you ok. Looking for situations we know could lead to a Database failure and proactively dealing with them. Doing it all with a very low foot print in the clients database environment.

The Ntirety Database Appliance, the specialized hardware has provided Ntirety a competitive advantage over all out competitors who also provide database administration service remotely. Ntirety has had an 8 year track record of near perfect client retention and satisfaction. Let me say that again, Ntirety has had an 8 year track record of near perfect client satisfaction and retention. The Ntirety database appliance has helped Ntirety gain efficiencies in how our database administrators do their jobs that has enabled Ntirety to keep prices competitive and still be 100% North American staffed.  So I get it. I think specialized hardware makes sense especially for databases.

I saw a blog entry I thought did an excellent job of commenting on Oracle new machine.

What is the Oracle Database Machine and Is It Needed?

Posted on September 25th, 2008 by Robin Bloor in IT Trends

You may have stumbled on the news that Oracle is now in the hardware business or to be more precise, it is in the database engine business - and by database engine I’m talking about hardware specifically built for running big database applications - and in respect of big databases applications, I mean big data warehouses.

On Wednesday Oracle CEO, Larry Ellison, unveiled the company’s Exadata Storage Server and a Database Machine - shown in the adjacent illustration, with the words Extreme Performance written down the side in red. The hardware is made by HP and you can think of this machine as being an implementation of the Oracle 11g database implemented over Oracle RAC with a complete Oracle software stack, plus Oracle Enterprise Linux.

From a software perspective much of this is familiar territory. The smart part is that the hardware has been designed for lightning query performance. Oracle claims that the HP Oracle Database Machine will run queries 10x faster or more. You can think of the whole configuration as having two parts; up to 8 HP Database Servers running Oracle 11g connected to 14 Exadata Storage Servers. The Exadata Storage Servers marry Intel multi-core processors with blocks of memory to specific disk resources, so that query processing for each disk happens “over the disk”. That’s where the performance comes from.

Does The World Need This?

It’s a logical question to ask. Database engines have been tried before (remember Britton Lee), but the only one that saw much success was Teradata. Other ideas like ICL’s CAFS (Content Addressable File Store) delivered the performance. But performance is never the problem with devices like this, it’s whether the overall architecture has longevity.

The fact that this is Oracle makes a big difference of course. The database giant has a right to try to move the industry along a different path - and I’m sure that this machine will see some quick adoption. On the HP side of the equation some commentators may wonder whether there isnt a product clash here, with HP also offering its excellent Neoview - based on the Tandem architecture. But first of all, HP is simply providing the iron, it is not selling the database machine. Secondly, Neoview performs best when dealing with mixed workloads whereas the Database Engine specifically targets multi-terabyte data warehouses. It is not a head-to-head clash although they will doubtless meet in the market place.

To read the entire article by Robin Bloor....

  What is the Oracle Database Machine and is it Needed

Only time will tell. For now, Oracle has once again entered the hardware business. This time with HP. Only time will tell.

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

This is fresh off the presses from Court House News. www.courthousenews.com

SAN JOSE (CN) - Electronic Arts, a leading maker of computer games,defrauds consumers through its "Spore" game, which "completely wipestheir hard drive" and replaces it with an undisclosed program thatprevents the computer from operating under some circumstances anddisrupts hardware operations, a class action claims in Federal Court.
     Theclass claims that "Spore," a virtual reality simulation game, contains"a second, undisclosed program" called SecuROM, a "form of DigitalRights Management (DRM) for computer games."
     Consumers are notwarned about the program, which is installed without notice and cannotbe uninstalled, even if the uninstall Spore, the complaint states. Thesecret SecuROM program is "secretly installed to the command andcontrol center of the computer (Ring 0, or the Kernel), andsurreptitiously operated, overseeing function and operation on thecomputer, preventing the computer from operating under certaincircumstances and/or disrupting hardware operations," the complaintstates.

To read the entire notice....

http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/09/23/_Spore_Hijacks_Computers_Class_Claims.htm Court House News article

For those who dont know Court House News...

Courthouse News Service is a news wire for lawyers.  It is made up of a network of correspondents who provide daily comprehensive reports on new appellate rulings, new legislation and new civil cases from the federal and state courts with the most prolific and weighty litigation.

This is very disapointing if its true.  Spore is the hottest game that has ever been released. if you have kids, I am sure spore is on your computer or will be shortly. The thought of them putting software on your computer without notice is unacceptable.

** ** ** **

I just saw this at gamepolitics.com

New Class-Action Suits Target EA, SecuROM, The Sims & Spore Creature Creator

November 8, 2008 

The new suits are the second and third filed recently by consumers in regard to EA's use of SecuROM. A woman named Melissa Thomas filed a similar suit in relation to Spore in September. Thomas and new plaintiff Richard Eldridge are represented by the same law firm.

To go to the original article....

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

I saw an article I wanted to share with everyone. This is from the Times Online http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/ in the United Kingdom. Its a very sad story. At the end I will share my thoguhts.

CEO murdered by mob of sacked Indian workers

Rhys Blakely in Bombay

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

I saw an article in the most recent Database Trends and Applications Magazine. This was from the electronic version. It was written by Greg Low. Here is portion of the article...

How Fast Will Users Migrate to SQL Server 2008?

By Greg Low

Early discussions on SQL Server 2008 seemed to suggest that it would really only be a point release, quite unlike what occurred with SQL Server 2005. Anyone looking at the new and upgraded features in SQL Server 2008 would soon realize that it offers much more than that. Given that SQL Server 2005 took some time to achieve mass adoption, the question that arises is how fast users will migrate to SQL Server 2008.

While the situation at each organization is unique, there are three broad classes of users that will look to upgrade to SQL Server 2008: existing SQL Server 2000 users (possibly concerned about supportability), existing SQL Server 2005 users (looking for a service update), and existing SQL Server 2005 users (seeking to use new features offered by SQL Server 2008).

Existing SQL Server 2000 Users

A formidable product that SQL Server 2005 initially competed with wasn't Oracle or DB2–it was SQL Server 2000. Users with applications deployed on SQL Server 2000 were often happy, stable and seeing no need to upgrade in the near future.

With the end of mainstream support for SQL Server 2000, this situation has changed. Most enterprise clients running SQL Server 2000 are now looking to upgrade. The interesting question is whether or not they will completely skip SQL Server 2005 and proceed directly to SQL Server 2008. There are compelling reasons to do so but the more conservative organizations will continue to apply a "wait for service pack one" rule, much to Microsoft's disappointment. However, it is likely that the price-conscious organizations will move directly to SQL Server 2008 if they are not currently in a software assurance agreement with Microsoft.

Existing SQL Server 2005 Users (Looking for a Service Update)

Two service packs have been released for SQL Server 2005 to date. Since service pack two, a series of Cumulative Updates have been shipped. These updates are not of the same quality as a full service pack, mostly because of a lack of full regression testing. In many cases, customers have needed fixes contained in an update but then found new issues caused by the update. Many in the industry have been calling for service pack three to be created but Microsoft has made it clear that while there will be a service pack three, it will follow after SQL Server 2008. This means that for many users, SQL Server 2008 will be seen as the best service pack for SQL Server 2005 as it will incorporate the fixes for most of these issues and be fully regression tested.

Existing SQL Server 2005 Users (Seeking to Use New Features)

SQL Server 2008 offers a number of compelling features for users. While the list is quite long, here are some that will have the greatest impact. One concern is that many of the top-rated new features require the Enterprise Edition of the product. This reverses a trend seen in SQL Server 2005 where many users were able to downgrade to Standard Edition and save licensing costs. Often this was because Standard Edition included both failover clustering and database mirroring. In SQL Server 2000, clustering required the Enterprise Edition.

For database administrators, the Resource Governor will have a significant impact. This allows CPU time to be allocated appropriately to important workloads rather than being shared evenly. Customers have also been requesting the ability to encrypt entire databases without the need to make application changes. This is provided via Transparent Data Encryption. For those concerned with compliance, a detailed new auditing system has been provided. It allows auditing of all actions occurring on the database, including SELECT operations.

A high-priority request for many years has been backup compression. This has been delivered along with row and page compression of databases, which might be quite critical in migrating users from database management systems that already include compression.

Many new administration features have appeared, most notably the Declarative Management Framework (which introduces the concept of policy-based management) and enhancements to SQL Server Management Studio to simplify the management of multiple servers, including the ability to execute a command or batch against multiple servers concurrently.

To read the entire article...

Here is some information about Dr. Greg Low:

Dr. Greg Low is an internationally recognized consultant, developer and trainer. He has been working in development since 1978, holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and a host of Microsoft certifications. Low is the country lead for Solid Quality, a SQL Server MVP and one of only three Microsoft Regional Directors for Australia. He also hosts the SQL Down Under podcast (www.sqldownunder.com), and is a board member of PASS (the Professional Association for SQL Server).

As I read this article, it reminds me of a conversation I had with a very seasoned Oracle DBA. We have both been doing this for a long time. he had started Oracle version 5, and myself I had used Oracle as far back as version 3. We both had exposed ourselves to other database versions. So for example Sybase, Informix and so on. 

We both made the same observation. If it were our money, we would buy and deploy SQL Server today.  Its just a great product that keeps getting better and better.

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

Ntirety is a world class provider of Oracle and Microsoft Database Administration Services

The combination of Google and Yahoo joining forces spells nothing but bad news for business. This recent article in TECHCRUNCH by Michael Arrington does an excellent job of spelling out why.....

by Michael Arrington on September 21, 2008

 

Randall Stross at The New York Times goes to bat for the Google/Yahoo search marketing deal, saying there’s “nothing to fear” from the two companies linking their search products. I believe most of his analysis is wrong, and he also skips the publisher side of the market entirely. In short, I feel that he is exactly wrong in both his approach and his conclusions.

He begins with “GOOGLE controls about 70 percent of the search advertising market. Doesn’t that give it a monopolist’s ability to set prices as high as it wishes?”

Well no actually, a monopoly controls only the supply side of a transaction, so it can’t change whatever it wants. If prices go too high, users stop buying (this is known as demand elasticity). Being a monopoly just gives you the ability to charge much higher prices than you otherwise would be able to because you don’t have a competitor who can undercut you for less profit.

But Stross skips that analysis and jumps into the meat of his argument. Ad rates are set by auctions, not dictated by Google, he says, so Google has no control over the pricing of those ads. If ad rates go up, it is just the market doing its thing.

This is the focus of his article - saying that there may not be any ad rate increases (which is absurd on its face), and alternately saying that if the rates increase it is simply the market responding to more robust ad auctions.

At the end of the day, advertisers will pay only what they want to get the ads they need. Most advertisers closely track ad performance to return on investment. If bids go up, they step back.

The real long term win for the networks is to build a commercial relationship directly with advertisers. Google has far more of them, because they’re chasing the massive search page views that Google supplies them. The more advertisers bidding, the higher the price.

With the addition of Yahoo search queries, there will be even more inventory, and even more incentive for those advertisers to jump on the Google platform.

So one centralized marketplace equals the highest economic rent to Google, which they can then share with third parties.

There is more to this article, click here.....

Why the Google Yahoo Ad Deal is something to fear

I want to ad a few more thoughts here. These companies are doing this for there own self interest. It will help them charge more for the same ADs they currently deliver. When I see the arguments talking about how they dont set the price, the consumer does. Give it a break. If the consumer controls the price, then lets bring back the 10 cent ad price. If I remember right, google did away with that. 

Give it a break, this is not good for the consumer.

Lets imagine how this happened....

 

Google talking.. "Hey Yahoo, lets merge forces and help the consumer, what do you think?"

Yahoo talking.. "Thats a great idea, I wish I thought of it ! ! ! !"

 

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

 

I am siting in an Airport in New York waiting for my plane, and I see this article posted on  ZDNET. 

Microsoft and Cray to unveil $25,000 Windows-based supercomputer

Posted by Mary Jo Foley.

I cant help but take a closer look......

Microsoft and Cray are set to unveil on September 16 the Cray CX1, a compact supercomputer running Windows HPC Server 2008.

The pair is expected to tout the new offering as “the most affordable supercomputer Cray has ever offered,” with pricing starting at $25,000.

In a September 15 posting to the Windows Server blog, Softie Tina Couch noted:

“It’s high performance and productivity computing that meets the needs of users, IT pros and developers by providing a highly integrated, familiar environment that is the right size and price for departmental and workgroup needs. The CX1 combines compute, storage, and visualization in a single integrated system that’s designed for non-traditional environments like labs, offices. If space is a problem, not to worry, it’s compact enough to fit in a broom closet.

“How can you get one?! It’s as easy as shopping on Amazon.com.  Customers can go online, order the CX1 system using a configurator and pay with credit card.”

Microsoft’s official launch of Windows HPC (High Performance Computing) Server 2008 is slated for September 22 in New York City. Windows HPC Server 2008 is the high-end SKU of Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 family. Microsoft is positioning the product as an alternative to Linux, which has gained a solid following in the high-end computing market.

To read the entire article writen by Mary Jo Foley......

Microsoft and Cray to unveil $25,000 Windows-based supercomputer

Back in the 80's I worked for Honeywell Information Systems. back then Honeywell was the number 2 computer company next to IBM. I worked in an internal application called project OMNI. Our mascot was the pig. because the application was so big and used so many resources. 

One of the most impressive things about working for Honeywell was going into the main computer room on the East Coast. It was size of many football fields. It went on and on. project Omni used a major portion of that computer room. I remember going back many years later and them showing me how the entire application project Omni no runs on a single computer that took up a very small portion of a room. 

It does not surprise me that we are now seeing a super computer from Cray and Microsoft. 

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

I just saw this article posted on the computworlds site..

One in five employers uses social networks in hiring process

It was written by heater Haverstein. Here is an excert from the article... 

Of the hiring managers who use social networks, one-third said they found information on such sites that caused them to toss the candidate out of consideration for a job, the survey said.

The study found that the number of hiring managers that are turning to social networks like MySpace and Facebook to delve into candidates' online behavior is increasing quickly: Some 22% of employers said they already peruse social networks to screen candidates, while an additional 9% said they are planning to do so. Only 11% of managers used the technology in 2006.

The top areas of concern found on social networking sites include:

• Information about alcohol or drug use (41% of managers said this was a top concern)
• Inappropriate photos or information posted on a candidate's page (40%)
• Poor communication skills (29%)
• Bad-mouthing of former employers or fellow employees (28%)
• Inaccurate qualifications (27%)
• Unprofessional screen names (22%)
• Notes showing links to criminal behavior (21%)
• Confidential information about past employers (19%)

To read the entire article.....

One in five employers uses social networks in hiring process

When you think about this, it makes complete sense. before I meet with a company, I check out the website and search the Internet to see what I can learn. Why do we not think that potential employers wont do the same. 

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

I just saw this article on Techcrunch.com I want to share with everyone. The Article is

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

I was just sent an email, I thought I would put on the blog. Its a side by side comparision of John McCain versus Obama Comparision. I am not sure who the author is. At the end it claims to provide Web Addresses to validate all the information provided.

Here is is....

Maybe this can help you make up your mind.  Verification sites at the end.

Candidate Comparisons .


Thought you might appreciate comparison!!

 _____




SIMPLE MATH:



2008 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE COMPARISON TALKING POINTS



ISSUE

JOHN McCAIN

BARACK OBAMA


Favors new drilling offshore US

Yes

No


Will appoint judges who interpret the law not make it

Yes

No



Served in the US Armed Forces

Yes

No


Amount of time served in the US Senate

22 YEARS

173 DAYS


Will institute a socialized national health care plan

No

Yes


Supports abortion throughout the pregnancy

No

Yes


Would pull troops out of Iraq immediately

No

Yes


Supports gun ownership rights

Yes

No


Supports homosexual marriage

No

Yes


Proposed programs will mean a huge tax increase

No

Yes


Voted against making English the official language

No

Yes


Voted to give Social Security benefits to illegals

No

Yes


CAPITAL GAINS TAX


MCCAIN

0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home (couples). McCain does not propose
any change in existing home sales income tax.


OBAMA

28% on profit from ALL home sales.  (How does this affect you? If you sell
your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes. If you
are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your home or move
into a retirement community, 28% of the money you make from your home will
go to taxes. This proposal will adversely affect the elderly who are
counting on the income from their homes as part of their retirement income.)



DIVIDEND TAX


MCCAIN

15% (no change)


OBAMA

39.6% - (How will this affect you? If you have any money invested in stock
market, IRA, mutual funds, college funds, life insurance, retirement
accounts, or anything that pays or reinvests dividends, you will now be
paying nearly 40% of the money earned on taxes if Obama becomes president.
The experts predict that 'Higher tax rates on dividends and capital gains
would crash the stock market, yet do absolutely nothing to cut the
deficit.')


INCOME TAX


MCCAIN

(no changes)

Single making 30K - tax $4,500
Single making 50K - tax $12,500
Single making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 60K- tax $9,000
Married making 75K - tax $18,750
Married making 125K - tax $31,250


OBAMA (reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts)

Single making 30K - tax $8,400
Single making 50K - tax $14,000
Single making 75K - tax $23,250
Married making 60K - tax $16,800
Married making 75K - tax $21,000
Married making 125K - tax $38,750
Under Obama, your taxes could almost double!


INHERITANCE TAX


MCCAIN

- 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax)


OBAMA

Restore the inheritance tax

Many families have lost businesses, farms, ranches, and homes that have been
in their families for generations because they could not afford the
inheritance tax. Those willing their assets to loved ones will only lose
them to these taxes.


NEW TAXES PROPOSED BY OBAMA


New government taxes proposed on homes that are more than 2400 square feet.
New gasoline taxes (as if gas weren't high enough already) New taxes on
natural resources consumption (heating gas, water, electricity)  New taxes
on retirement accounts, and last but not least....New taxes to pay for
socialized medicine so we can re cei ve the same level of medical care as
other third-world countries!!!









You can verify the above at the following web sites:

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

I just Updated the Bottom of this Blog entry, to include recent hack via Facebook that turns your PC into a zombie....

You thought you had to worry about your identity being stolen what about that of your PC. Identity theft is a real problem and keeps growing.

On January 30th, 2008, I talked about how my son who is attending college Identity was stolen. Who would have thoguht they would steal the credit identity of a 20 year old. Click here to read the blog entry..

Identity Theft Hits Home - Lessoned Learned 

In that blog I give you many helpful hints on what to do when your credit identity is stolen. It loaded with a lot of useful tips.

On August 14th, 2008, I posted a video of someone using a SQL Injection attack to break into an Oracle Linux database. Seeing how easy it was is quite a shock. Face it there big money is stealing the information stored in an Oracle Database, SQL Server Database and any other database that contains credit card information, etc.

Click here to see the video of a SQL Injection attack..

 SQL Injection Attack Oracle LINUX Database 

Your identity is not safe, nor is your PC's identity. This next entry I took from BBC News. It was Posted September 4th. I do not see it accreddited to a particular writer. Here it is...

Zombie plague sweeps the internet

The summer saw a surge in the number of hijacked home PCs or "zombies", say security experts.

The Shadowserver Foundation, which tracks zombie numbers worldwide, said it had seen at least a threefold increase in the last three months.

More than 450,000 computers are now part of zombie networks, or botnets, run by hi-tech criminals, it said.

The rise is believed to be linked to attacks that booby-trap websites to try to infect the machines of visitors.

Attack vector

Criminals are keen to recruit new machines to a botnet to create a resource that they can use or which can be hired out to other gangs.

Most spam or junk mail is routed through the hijacked machines forming a botnet. The collection of PCs are often used to launch attacks on other websites, as anonymous stores for stolen data and to help with phishing scams.

The vast majority of machines in these botnets will be PCs running a version of Microsoft Windows.

In June 2008 Shadowserver Foundation knew about more than 100,000 machines that were part of a botnet. By the end of August this figure had exceeded 450,000 machines.

The Shadowserver Foundation is a group of security professionals who volunteer their time to track and measure botnets to help law enforcement investigations.

The rise in numbers has been accompanied by a fall in the number of so-called command and control (C&C) servers tracked by the Shadowserver group suggesting that hi-tech criminals are concentrating their resources. As their name implies, the C&C servers co-ordinate the use of all the machines linked to them.

The jump in individual zombie numbers is linked to a series of wide-spread attacks that inject malicious code on to legitimate websites that tries to compromise any visiting machine.

In recent months many hi-tech criminals have turned to web attacks to recruit new victims rather than rely on sending viruses out via e-mail.

Typically, a machine is compromised via a vulnerability in one of the programs it runs. Inside this initial attack program will be code that directs it to contact a C&C server which then downloads software to put it completely under the control of a botmaster.

The machines in any individual botnet can be spread across many different nations.

To reach the original Article.....

Zombie plague sweeps the internet

Its clear to me, security is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. Especially as it pertains to your Database. Here are some blog entries I have posted in the past with Security tips in them....

Oracle Security Tip: SET ADMIN_RESTRICTIONS_LISTENER ON 

Security Common Sense for the Internet (Web)

SQL Server Best Practices Security

Face Book and Hi5 Security Advice

Oracle to release 45 security patches This Tuesday

Facebook Virus Turns Your Computer into a Zombie

Brennon Slattery, PC World

Dec 5, 2008 11:02 am

Hey, I have this hilarious video of you dancing. Your face is so red. You should check it out.

If you've received a message like that through Facebook or MySpace, you may have been exposed to the "Koobface" virus. "Koobface" comes through an e-mail sent by one of your social networking site friends inviting you to scope out a video.

Once the URL is clicked, "Koobface" prompts you to update your Flash player before the video can be displayed. Therein lies the virus, cloaked in a "flash_player.exe" file. According to the Kaspersky Lab, an antivirus organization working closely with Facebook, "the worms transform victim machines into zombie computers to form botnets."

The McAfee Security Blog explains that when "Koobface" infects your computer, it prompts a downloaded service named Security Accounts Manager (SamSs) to load on start-up. SamSs then proxies all HTTP traffic, stealing results from popular search engines and hijacking them to lesser-known search sites.

 To read the entire article....

Posted Michael Corey, Ntirety

www.ntirety.com

My next Blog Entry comes from Improveverywhere. This video is a must see. In this Video they filled a N.Y. subway car with identical twins, creating a Human Mirror. Then Then Video taped the reactions. I enjoyed is and thought I would share it with everyone.

Here is an excerpt from the Web Site….

I explained the mission to everyone. We would get on the 6 train at the start of the line at Brooklyn Bridge and the twins would sit on either side of the car, directly across from their sibling. Once in place, their job would be to mirror each other as closely as possible. If one scratches his head, so should the other. If anyone asked them what was going on, they should claim not to notice anything unusual and not to even be able to see their sibling.

To read the entire article and see the video….

Video Identical Twins on New York Subway

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

IOUG 2008 Oracle & Microsoft SQL Server DBA Salary Survey is Out

A few months ago I did an Blog Entry called Jerry Maguire and Database Administration Salaries.As I did research for that article I as really disappointed in the poor quality of DBA Salary Survey information out there. The Database Administrator is such a critical role in a company; I was surprised at just how little information I could find on how much to pay a DBA. I kept thinking, SHOW ME THE MONEY. The problem is to be competitive, you have to know HOW MUCH MONEY. At the same time, I have a business that runs, that want to be competitive, but also smart with its offers. 

Many companies rely on the Head Hunters (Recruiters) to help them decide how much to pay their DBA’s. Given that they make a percentage of the offer, there is just too much incentive for them to try and raise the offer. Like Jerry Maguire, the more he can convince his clients to pay, the more money Jerry Maguire makes. So relying on Head Hunter's is a very expensive way to obtain DBA's.  

I was approached by Tom Wilson of Unisphere Media. They produce the publication Database Trends and Applications. www.DBTA.com The DBTA webside now contains past articles. Its a good source of information. Database Trends and Applications is a wonderful publication I recommend that you take the time to subscribe too.

Unisphere Media working  with the Independent Oracle Users GroupI they decided to do a Salary Survey focused on the DBA (Database Administrator). Ntirety – The Database Administration Experts www.ntirety.com decided to sponsor this DBA Salary Survey. The survey goes well beyond just DBA's. It was clear to me this was research that was very much needed and the IOUG (Independent Oracle Users Group) is in a unique position to provide it.

Here is a sample of the Survey..

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

How well are Oracle database professionals and managers being paid in the market? Does certification make a difference? How large is the gap between smaller businesses and large organizations? A new survey among members of the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) tracked the salaries of key categories of data professionals and managers, and found that size, location, and certification can make a difference.

In July 2008, Unisphere Research conducted a study for the IOUG to measure the changes impacting the jobs of data managers and professionals. The survey was conducted in cooperation with Ntirety, a leading provider of remote database administration services for Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. The survey was announced via an email notification to the IOUG membership list, which directed participants to a Web-based survey instrument. A total of 503 responses were collected by the survey deadline.

Of the 503 respondents to the survey, 50 percent are database administrators, 16 percent are analysts or developers, 10 percent are IT managers, and the remaining 24 percent hold a variety of titles, including consultants, architects, and project managers. A majority, 58 percent, have more than a decade of experience at their jobs, while 10 percent are relatively new with less than five years' experience. About half hold some form of certification.

Respondents come from a fairly even split among company sizes. About a third, 32 percent, come from large organizations with more than 10,000 employees, and another third represent employers with 1,000 to 10,000 employees. In addition, 33 percent are with smaller to medium-size firms with 1,000 or fewer people. By industry, 16 percent come from the IT services and consulting sector, and 12 percent represent government organizations. Nine percent are with healthcare organizations and another nine percent are with
manufacturers. (For more information on the demographics of this survey, see Figures 20 through 23 at the end of this report.)

The survey covered the salary trends of the three main groups - DBAs, developers and analysts, and IT managers. Salaries reported were base salaries only, not including bonuses, incentives, benefits, or stock options. All figures were requested in U.S. dollars.

Key findings include the following:

•    Close to three out of 10 DBAs - who oversee the operational aspects of database sites - now receive six-figure incomes for their work. The largest segment, 47 percent, reported making base salaries of between $80,000 and $100,000.

•    Developer and analyst salaries typically fall around the $75,000 range.

•    IT managers' salaries are close to $100,000, and more than a third have topped this level. However, managers wereless likely to have seen increases over the past year.

What kinds of skills are "hot" these days, for which employers are willing to pay a premium? Many respondents pointed to business related skills, in which data professionals interact closer with the rest of the organization to map out their data requirements. "Skills have moved from totally database-centric to business-centric," said one respondent. "Technology for technology’s sake is no longer important. Technology that has a positive business impact is important and the DBA is relied upon to understand it if it's database related."

Another respondent observed that data professionals and managers "need to understand the entire stack being used within the organization for production applications. In the past, each person was specialized in a specific area (only vertical). Now we need to wear multiple hats to support the needs of the organization and the production applications."

To obtain a copy of this survey…….

 2008 IOUG Salary Survey Now Available 

I just found another decent tool for DBA Salarys. I prefer the Independent Oracle Users Group Salary Survey. The computerworld tool was very quick and easy to use.

Smart Salary Tool At Computerworld 

Follow the link to Computerworlds site to try it:

 Smart Salary Tool 

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

I have no love of the record Industry and their strong arm tactics

 They keep telling us how much money they are loosing through online piracy, when they are experiencing record growth and profits.  Give it a break. The record industry reminds me of the OIL Industry. With less than 20% of the U.S. oil coming in from the Middle East, why are our prices as the gas pump rising so fast. So in my opinion the The 1st New Mafia is the OIL Industry. Talk about record profits.

Here is a previous article on the record industry….

Music Industry Wants a Music Tax - Give it a break

The record industry (RIAA) in my opinion is the The 2nd new Mafia. The latest article I found in www.eschoolnews.com . The colleges are pushing back on the Record Industries strong arm tactics. The article was titled “Colleges push back against RIAA’s methods” by Dennis Carter, EsSchool News.

To quote the article….

Administrators and IT chiefs at public universities nationwide say the recording industry's search for students accused of online piracy is cutting into their faculty's work day. In recent months, some universities have refused to forward "pre-litigation" letters to students offering them a settlement to avoid further legal action from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Forwarding these documents is not a legal responsibility of the college, administrators say, and tracking down students who might have downloaded music or movies illegally is time-consuming, forcing IT specialists to comb through an enormous university network, pinpoint specific illegal actions, and find students.

"This is between the recording industry and the people who may be violating their copyrights," said Brian Rust, marketing manager of the University of Wisconsin at Madison's Department of Information Technology, which has seen a steady increase of subpoenas and "cease-and-desist" notices forwarded from RIAA officials in recent years. "But public institutions are an easy target. We're very transparent about access to our network."

Higher education has been a primary ally in the recording industry's fight against online piracy, but over the last year, university officials say tension has mounted.

Filtering or monitoring technologies designed to spot incidents of illegal downloads have forced many colleges to assign full-time employees the job of tracking down the IP addresses of network users who might have violated copyright laws, find out if those users are still enrolled in the university, and make sure the alleged violators receive notice that the RIAA is looking for them. The software has been installed at campuses  across the country after the recording industry's intensive lobbying effort for better network monitoring.

Denise Stephens, vice provost for information services and chief information officer at the University of Kansas, said the school decided to stop forwarding pre-litigation papers to students because the practice did not fit the mission of the college.

To read the entire article ……

Colleges push back against RIAA’s methods

Its about t.ime the colleges stand up the school yard bully.

Enough is enough. I understand ones desire to protect your copyrighted work. As an author of numerous books with Osborne McGraw-Hill. I really do get it. But its not the job of the colleges to do your dirty work. I also have a problem feeling sorry for the record industry, when you are having record profits and growth. It seems to me that if anything products like Limewire are the best marketing you have ever had. People are listening to the Music then going out and purchasing it. 

My hats goes off the the University of Wisconsin and the University of Kansas. Its not the mission of the College to do the dirty wortk for the record industry.

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com

I know its been a while since I last blogged. I was on a quick vacation to the Caribbean. I was lucky enough to book a quick one-week cruise on the Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas.  Those people, who know me well, know I love to cruise. This was my 23 Royal Caribbean cruise. This was one of the ships I had not been on before and I was not disappointed.  

Even though I had full access to the Internet, I kept it to a minimum this week. I originally started cruising, because it was one of the few places where I could vacation and work could not find me. For a good portion of my life, I supported critical Oracle databases for major Banks, Hospitals and even for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Having started with Oracle version 3.0, my career has taken me to work in many great organizations. Whenever I tried to vacation there was always a reason to interrupt it. So I started camping and cruising as ways to get a vacation with my family that would not be interrupted. It reminds of a story, before I get into my next blog entry.

I was camping in the Mountains of New Hampshire. When a park ranger finds me. Asks if I am Michael Corey who works for the ________. The financial institution will remain nameless.  I am then informed there is a major crisis at the bank and could I please go to the nearest phone to call in. I hike to the nearest payphone and call in.

The Bank had recently put in a new backup system. I had wanted to run a full fire drill of the new state of the art backup system, but was told by bank operations that was not necessary. When they refused to work with me to run a full fire drill of the new backup system, I wanted to build an alternate backup scheme. My manager thought that was a complete waste of time and money. I was a hired gun (Oracle Consultant) for the bank at the time. I was an employee originally, when I turned consultant they became one of my first customers. The Manager I was working for thought I was just trying find ways to increase my billable hours.

That is a problem with doing business that charge by the hour. The longer it takes the more money it costs you. One of my competitors uses a charge by the hour business model. Where we do all out work remote DBA work on a fixed price model. Its incents my people to do the job right the first time versus a Time and Material engagement where the longer it takes the more money the business makes. I told the manager at the bank that was not the case at all, that I felt so strongly, that I would create this alternate backup method on my own time. The number one concern of DBA is the protection of the data. Back then Disk failure were common. This database was much too big to mirror the entire thing. It was one of the largest Oracle Databases in the world at the time. 

Here is a blog entry that talks about the importance of Fire Drilling your Database Backup.....

Have You Fire Drilled Your Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server Database Backup

A few weeks later I left for a one-week vacation. Camping in the mountains of New Hampshire, where I felt they would not be able to find me. Well the park range found me. I wonder what they told the park ranger to make him look for me in the first place. When I finally get to the payphone and call in. I am asked by the Bank manager if I had in fact created that alternate database backup scheme. I had. They had a failure of the database system, when they went back to recover from the new state of the art backup system, they were unable to read past the first tape.

It just illustrates the importance of fire drilling your database backup. To make sure it will work when you need it. As I think upon this a few quick thoughts come to mind.

One I am very lucky at Ntirety to have a wonderful team of people around me. I feel we have the finest group of Database Administrators in the world. I feel I can take a vacation and not worry about the databases we help manage. When I talk to the customers of our remote database administration services the biggest thing we do for our customers is take the worry away from the management of the databases. When there is a problem, they know there is a team of seasoned database administration experts there to help. The problems with the database we manage just go away and more importantly stay away. 

The in-house DBA actually gets to take a vacation and not worry.  Better yet the park ranger is not looking for them, The in-house DBA  very quickly become the strongest supporters of ours with our customers base.  The Internet is what made a service like Ntirety’s Remote DBA service possible. Before the Internet came along it was possible, but not very practical. So lets take a look at why the Era of a U.S. dominated Internet is almost over.

The New York Times published an article August 29, 2008 by John Markoff titled “The Era of the American Internet is Ending”.

To quote the article….


“Suppose the Internet was entirely confined to the U.S., which it once was? That wasn’t helpful,” said Vint Cerf of Google.

Invented by American computer scientists during the 1970s, the Internet has been embraced around the globe. During the network’s first three decades, most Internet traffic flowed through the United States. In many cases, data sent between two locations within a given country also passed through the United States.

Engineers who help run the Internet said that it would have been impossible for the United States to maintain its hegemony over the long run because of the very nature of the Internet; it has no central point of control.

And now, the balance of power is shifting. Data is increasingly flowing around the United States, which may have intelligence — and conceivably military — consequences.

American intelligence officials have warned about this shift. “Because of the nature of global telecommunications, we are playing with a tremendous home-field advantage, and we need to exploit that edge,” Michael V. Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2006. “We also need to protect that edge, and we need to protect those who provide it to us.”
Indeed, Internet industry executives and government officials have acknowledged that Internet traffic passing through the switching equipment of companies based in the United States has proved a distinct advantage for American intelligence agencies. In December 2005, The New York Times reported that the National Security Agency had established a program with the cooperation of American telecommunications firms that included the interception of foreign Internet communications.

Some Internet technologists and privacy advocates say those actions and other government policies may be hastening the shift in Canadian and European traffic away from the United States.

“Since passage of the Patriot Act, many companies based outside of the United States have been reluctant to store client information in the U.S.,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. “There is an ongoing concern that U.S. intelligence agencies will gather this information without legal process. There is particular sensitivity about access to financial information as well as communications and Internet traffic that goes through U.S. switches.”

But economics also plays a role. Almost all nations see data networks as essential to economic development. “It’s no different than any other infrastructure that a country needs,” said K C Claffy, a research scientist at the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis in San Diego. “You wouldn’t want someone owning your roads either.”

Indeed, more countries are becoming aware of how their dependence on other countries for their Internet traffic makes them vulnerable. Because of tariffs, pricing anomalies and even corporate cultures, Internet providers will often not exchange data with their local competitors. They prefer instead to send and receive traffic with larger international Internet service providers.

This leads to odd routing arrangements, referred to as tromboning, in which traffic between two cites in one country will flow through other nations. In January, when a cable was cut in the Mediterranean, Egyptian Internet traffic was nearly paralyzed because it was not being shared by local I.S.P.’s but instead was routed through European operators.

To see my previous blog entries that covered this.......

Fifth Undersea Cable Cut ! ! !

Internet Outage Hits India, Middle East Again!!!!!!

I had a field day with the undersea cables being cut. I kept imagining a company who had chosen a competitor of Ntirety. There database went down, and when they tried to reach their offshore provider of remote DBA services they received the following message “All lines to India are busy, please  call back later”. Sound like they may have this problem fixed in the next 5 -10 years. What are the odds of a failed database when the Internet Lines are clogged or busy. I guess its only your business you are risking.

Later in the article it made this statement…..

China, for instance, surpassed the United States in the number of Internet users in June. Over all, Asia now has 578.5 million, or 39.5 percent, of the world’s Internet users, although only 15.3 percent of the Asian population is connected to the Internet, according to Internet World Stats, a market research organization.

By contrast, there were about 237 million Internet users in North America and the growth has nearly peaked; penetration of the Internet in the region has reached about 71 percent.

 Click Here to read entire New York Times Article

Posted by Michael Corey

www.ntirety.com