There had been a few incidents of theft in various buildings. So a few students went to schools administration and asked them to buy a couple radios (read walkie talkies) and set up some old desks near the entrance of each building. The administration complied and thus a security force was born.

Over the years the security grew to meet the demands of a climbing crime rate around the school. I’m guessing it was 10, maybe 15 years old when I joined the force. It was a meager salary for a relatively quiet gig, but was a bit more money then "work-study".

The security force was like a big clique among the small school population, or at least as it was perceived by the students who weren’t "guards".

Some years later I was upgraded to security supervisor of the "Main" building. This was the showcase building that housed the schools administration as well as large art studios. Rising to the rank of a supervisor put me in charge of roughly 45 part-time employees covering shifts 24/7.

I have a good mind-set for security, we’re meant to be helpful receptionists, but mainly there to protect the students, faculty, staff and property. This was my community and, of course,  I wanted them to be safe and secure.

At school we would get a few students that no matter what the security force did, we were considered fascists and oppressors of freedom. These students would make their displeasure known in a variety of ways. Sometimes attempting to skirt the rules because they would not be subjected to the police force of evil. This unfortunate description is also a similar relationship between some end-users and the IT staff.

Security is the most important part of an IT managers or Security specialist job (if your company is big enough to afford someone dedicated to this subject). But it’s also the main reason you get into trouble with end-users. The fundamental thing about security is that it protects you, but gets in your way. As luck would have it often times it gets in your way at the peak moments of frustration. Whether you’re tying to get a presentation printed or a product out the door.

Many employees think the of the stereotype members of the IT staff are a bunch of unsocial jerks. With more affinity toward technology then their fellow humans. But the opposite is more true. Troubleshooting computers, especially at the workstation level, is a lot about understanding how people interact with technology. Beyond the books and immense amount of information we must devour intellectually, there is "theory" or the way the manufacturer claims something will work. Then there is "practice" the way something actually works. End-user interaction is a big part of figuring out the best implementation of a given technology. We’re really not trying to get the the way of you doing your job.

Ultimately IT professionals are here to make everyone’s lives easier and better. Security in these cases is the major handicap. There are instances where you need to bear the pain of a process or application, because there’s either no other way to do it or a better way just doesn’t work in a particular instance or it’s just safer for everyone that way.

Keep in mind the main part of the job is examining and re-examining these applications/business processes for a better way. Maybe that means "more efficient" maybe that means "cost less" or maybe "it’s more secure", you have to run a balance.

IT administrators also have to balance "need" versus "want" for the whole company. Not only that we have to navigate the personal choices that the company has deemed important. There’s no question that if a client company wants your company to install something, there’s little you can do about it. You make the appropriate report about what changes need to take place to company administration and well as appropriate managers. With the realization the reasoning behind this implementation is likely to cause some friction with employees.

This is part of the job. We’re not out to lock you down as thugs of Technology.

Probably the biggest challenge for me as an IT manager is getting people to see beyond the immediate problem quick fix and looking at a long term solution. Be sure this isn’t a problem limited to IT. It also happened at college, though at the time I was probably a bigger fan of the quick fix.

PS: Happy Holidays.

I have a good humor about most things, and there is certain amount information about various technologies I don’t know, but I know far more then your average Linux hacker or Mac fanatic. Not that this stops these people from trying to out-IT me on a weekly basis.

Very early in my career I learned that a little knowledge can lead to a lot of damage on a corporate network. This is one of the reason we administrators like to withhold administrative rights on corporate systems is that your local problem can become everyone’s problem in no time without you even knowing it.

I would suggest that just because you’ve been industrious enough to install your own operation system, applications, and hardware; you are likely more of a liability to a business network then someone who knows nothing.

To some he was probably seen as a hysteric, clinging too closely to laws of physics and what the manuals (Who reads manuals anyway?) claimed the upper limits stress the engines or structural integrity of the ship could take.

To me, however, Scotty was engaging in “underselling” the capabilities of the ship, in order to “over-deliver”. Many fictional years later, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Relics”, Scotty admits he was trying to hold onto the myth that he was a miracle worker. Making farfetched ideas work.

Using the term “miracle worker” is a little glib self-assessment in a work environment, but Scotty is really saying, he may try to lower your expectations, but you can depend on him in a tight spot to come through for you. Because he always does. Obviously we all fail in making the magic appear sometimes despite our abilities and efforts. Fortunately most of us aren’t in a life or death situation so we can go back to square one with only an injured ego.

The nature of “underselling” comes from the reality that no matter how detailed the extent of your planning and experience in coming to a working solution, there’s always something that’s going to go wrong and throw your plan off. This is where the creative thinking in IT becomes a must, but also you must be aware the unknown can happen and add it into the equation and find a way to relay that in non-technical terms to management.

In general, management thinks when they are asking for a business solution that is simple and obvious. To themselves they think in practical terms that make sense. Without truly understanding the nature of computer technology and technology company goals.

Einstein is quoted as saying:

Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Human beings are incredibly slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. Together they are powerful beyond imagination.

Even though Einstein said this decades before we had personal computers in millions of homes and businesses. It’s no less true today.

Computers are still pretty dumb, for example, installing a printer on a computer can result in hours of frustration. It doesn’t matter that you have the correct drivers or followed the manufacturer’s instructions to the letter. Every printer has a potential for production flaws. Every software driver has the potential for unforeseen bugs that the software developer misses. The printer manufacturer can not reproduce every computer environment and build. Problems and mistakes happen and it’s essential to pre-figure these unknowns into every solution.

In this example if someone from management were to ask me to install a printer on their computer and want to know how long it’s going to take. It may take me 5 to 10 minutes, without incident (maybe less), but I’m not going to say that. I’m going to say it’s going to take me 2 hours. That way I’ve added in the unknown and if, as it would usually, take around 5 minutes, management is always pleasantly surprised. They just gained 1 hour and 55 minutes of computer time they thought they never get.

If I had said 10 minutes and it ended up taking 30, management is almost always a bit annoyed. I know the feeling. It’s like waiting in the Doctor’s office. Your appointment is at 12:30pm, but you’re lucky if you see the doctor by 1pm. That was overselling.

Overselling, the antithesis of “underselling”, is usually the domain of sales representatives, but also more then a few IT professionals, I’ve known. Sales representatives will often promise me a performance increase of 10x of what my company’s current configuration. Anyone who promises you the moon, you have to automatically take it for granted the moon will never be delivered. You’re bound to be let down by high expectations, so why not set the bar in a realistic place and come out looking great because you “over-delivered” or created a “miracle” on the solution.

In the end despite Scotty protestations to the contrary he was confident in his equipment and creative skill. He just kept it away from management.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Star Trek and Scotty are partly responsible for mine love of working with technology.

To be continued…

I’m sure everyone has their own particular list of favorite applications/hardware. Here’s mine:

Web

Logmein – The free version of this service is perfect. You have no idea how many times this program has saved my bacon. I strongly prefer the ActiveX to the Java version. It could be because I hate all things Java.

Flickr – This ancient Web 2.0 site is still the best photo image storage/sharing service on the web. I have a “Pro” account and about 10 years worth of images up there. Unlike Photobucket and ImageShack. The interface doesn’t make my eyes bleed.

Gmail – So clean and fast. More like an e-mail database/archive. I’ve used the service since it’s inception. I have about 4 e-mail accounts dumping into it and I have yet to come anywhere near the 6 gig capacity.

Google Reader – I never really caught on to the RSS craze until IE7 included a reader built-in. My trouble with it was I had 6 computers and even though I could export and import the feeds to each computer, I had to skip through a lot of stuff I had already read. Along comes the web-centric Google Reader and my problems are solved.

del.icio.us – Bookmarks anywhere. I was using Googlesync for this to keep my bookmarks where ever I went. But like Gmail, del.icio.us is more like an archive then a bookmark management and one I use daily.

Software

Firefox – It used to be all about the plug-ins. Plug-ins for this and that. Even I feel it’s actually starting to lose some of it’s innovation ground. But I really can’t work without the program, some of the plug-ins have literally re-wired my brain.

Windows Live Writer – I was a true believer of web-based applications until I tried this little program out. Like Firefox the plug-ins themselves are what put this above anything similar. So easy to use and with conjunction of Foldershare I can literally write from anywhere.

Microsoft OneNote – Taking notes. Drawing. Copying text with references. Capturing images. Storing and organizing overkill. Probably the best application made in the last 5 years. If you have a short attention span and are completely unorganized, OneNote can actually make sense of the world. This is really what the Tablet PC platform is all about. OneNote is a brilliant program.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 – Corporate mainstay. Like many Microsoft products it does 5000 things you don’t know about and probably wont use. What people don’t talk much about is that Outlook isn’t about e-mail. A huge part in contact organization and scheduling of people and resources. Like my criticism of Firefox, I feel Microsoft has dropped the innovation ball on this one for the past 5 years. That said much like Gmail and Firefox there are simply no better alternatives to Outlook for corporate e-mail clients.

Hardware:

AT&T Tilt – This recently replaced my Verizon XV6700 for this PDA/Phone. It was a nice upgrade and as usual as a new customer of any phone service you get the best price on equipment. Many people have asked me why I need such a beefy phone. It’s got lots of RAM, GPS and a keyboard. I would say that the phone part of this device is not the most used part. The internet and e-mail are by far it’s biggest utility for me.

Samsung Q1 Ultra – A new addition to my technology family. I’m still learning to use it. These UMPCs are different then the Tablet PCs I’m use to. It needed to be upgraded and hacked so I could use it for business, but I’ve had no problems doing so.

Macbook (Black) – I’ve said it before, but it bares to be repeated. I haven’t seen a faster Vista computer, but I primarily use OS X 10.5 and Microsoft latest RDP client beta. My main complaint about this laptop: Not enough USB ports. A serious design flaw.

Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 – Microsoft’s hardware branch is by far the best department in the company. And I’ve been a fan of Microsoft’s natural keyboard design since it’s inception. Yes I use this with my Mac. Apple has insane ideas for what passes for input devices.

Microsoft Natural Wireless Mouse 6000- First off, beyond the really innovative design, this is the most comfortable mouse I ever used. Again used with my Macbook, because the more buttons I get on my mouse the lower my frustration.

I’ve been working on/with Apple computers for roughly 18 years, most of that time in the 90s when Apple were akin to overly ripe fruit of the computing world.

Despite these low days for Apple I still came across and worked with some die in the wool, Apple fanatics who even then thought Apple products were simply magical.

Magical to the extent that Apple products never crash, hang, or experience a hardware/software problem of any kind. I would even go so far as to suggest that the Apple Hardware have a shield against dust, dirt and debris. Apple fans feel about their computer the way someone usually feels about a car or motorcycle they built/customized. It’s their pride and joy. Windows users do not have this type of emotional/mythical connection to their hardware. Even if they have built the computer themselves.

Macs do crash with annoying frequency, but the end-users don’t seem to remember it happening. These thralls have never seen the “bomb” or “Spinning Beachball of Death”. Perhaps the Reality Distortion Field (RDF) affects a small portion of the population more then others. Here’s at least one victim of the aforementioned RDF effect.

Another big problem is that Apple tends to ignore the corporate world for the most part. Sure you can connect to Active Directory or even Deploy update via Remote Desktop (not to be confused with RDP), but beyond that there isn’t much help.

The Solution

It would be impossible to state that Apple hasn’t influenced the industry in a positive way. IT Managers can take the hype surrounding the iPhone with a grain of salt, but end-users are paying attention and so are Apple’s competitors, whether it’s Microsoft or Motorola. IT Managers probably also groan to themselves about the new security problems that will no doubt arise. Every executive or sales vice-president will buy and iPhone and have the IT department figure out the little details like e-mail and file syncing. Rumor has it that Apple has licensed Exchange ActiveSync and with any luck this means push mail to the iPhone. That said the current crop of Exchange clients (Entourage) for the Mac are shall we say, far from perfect. And by perfect I mean exactly like Outlook for Windows. Apple gets away with things no other company does. They sell more then computers or gadgets, they sell a style and way of life. Simple is easier, and an easier/prettier life is something most people want.

For the average user all anyone needs is a browser, e-mail, and a few office programs. Windows, OS X or even Linux can handle these tasks with ease and one really doesn’t do it better then the other. After that it’s all either completely personal or business as to what someone actually needs a computer for.. Business is the reason why 90% of the world runs Windows. It’s why you have the brisk competition of Bootcamp, Parallels, or VMware on the Mac OS X. Windows is the game worth playing when you need to get something in business done.

The basics of Apple’s Importance:

Pros:

• Design and sensibility.
• The human equation is the most important part of technology, and whether we IT managers are aware of it or not Apple makes a connection with people on a personal level that Microsoft and other’s can’t touch.

Cons:

• Very little corporate support. I always find this point monstrously perplexing.
• The Cult of Mac. The rabid mind-set that the computers are more then computers. It’s a religious artifact. It’s a big turn off for people who have serious work to get done and they don’t want a lot of hyperbole.

Some history

My personal history with Apple started, like most people, in college. I’d used my dad’s and my high school computers in the past much to my dissatisfaction. These were not the promise of computers that television and movies gave me in my youth.

I started off playing with a Macintosh Classic II, for hours at a time.  MacPaint and grayscale. Happy times, I assure you. I was quite captivated by the whole thing. But as my friend Chris stated to me once, drawing with a mouse is akin to drawing with a bar of soap.  This didn’t stop me from exploring the limits what I could do with it. The Mac Classic II wasn’t around long, before our school got Macs capable of color. Can you imagine 8 bit color? But this was right around time I began to see the cracks in Apple’s armor. Now it was like those old computers my father had let me use. They weren’t aspiring to be better.

As the 90s moved on, these cracks became more and more noticeable and by this time I was gainfully employed and not some college student, I had to work with Windows/DOS. Because businesses ran themselves on Windows/DOS and obviously still do. I initially thought I would stick with the Mac for home use, but then you notice the price difference between the Mac and the PC. Besides that I had become rather proficient in with Windows/DOS and realized, despite being more “work”, it had a lot more potential.  So I bought my first PC.

My job wasn’t completely PC-based, I still got to see the latest and greatest from Apple from one of the employees who insisted on working only with a Mac and was influential enough to get what she wished for. We’d even considered getting the Apple Newton as the first PDA device for the sales team. But ultimately didn’t implement the plan due to the Newton’s unfriendly cost and lack of corporate friendly applications.

The point here is even when the cracks of Apple’s product line are showing clearly, people (even business people) want to give Apple products a shot. The Newton was innovative at the time, but it didn’t do enough for people so it wasn’t a hit. The PDA market with sprung up around the same time, everyone from Sony to Microsoft were attempting to get something to stick for business users and USRobotics comes along with it’s Palm Pilot and the rest is history.

Obviously the beginning a very difficult times for Apple, Windows 95 effectively (arguably)  leapfrogged Apple’s aging System 7 OS. Introducing such concepts as preemptive multitasking and a revolutionary re-work in Windows interface design. The Key here though is that Apple influenced Microsoft to evolve their OS.

Apple’s second coming was the iMac. Not the first foray into the Monitor and Computer in one easy to digest pill, but certainly the most eye-catching one. It didn’t hurt that the “New” Volkswagen Beetle which was also similarly eye-catching, was helping set the agenda of consumer style with it’s memorable commercials. This was the future after all and it was made of candy.

The computer market soon flooded with concept PCs that emulated the iMacs simplicity and design. Computer manufacturers had received the message that consumers wanted candy, and candy they got.

Th iMac enjoyed some initial success while Apple fine-tuned the product and introduced their next generation operating system: OS X.

OS X was just a pretty face when it first came out, and had plenty of issues. The real victory of OS X is that it finally pushed the Mac platform into the future it had spend nearly 10 years avoiding.

This article continues in Part 2.

One. Gmail/Yahoo mail/Hotmail to marry for life. I want to be able to integrate fully my various Web mail accounts. I use Google’s Gmail primarily, and it has a very nice feature set that allows you to have various e-mail accounts filtered through it’s interface. It not unlike using a locally installed POP client like Thunderbird or Outlook Express. Far more graceful though. If you have the free versions of Hotmail (or Windows Live Hotmail) and Yahoo web mail, you don’t get to consolidate these services.

Now don’t get me wrong, from a business perspective, I can understand why Microsoft and Yahoo wouldn’t be so keen on such a integration. These free web mail services are paid in part by your browsing to their respective sites, so that they can advertise to you and get money from their advertising clients like good corporate entities.

Two. Windows Vista Service Pack 2. I’m actually already running the beta version of SP1 now of this already and, of course, SP2 will be coming whether I wish it or not, but still we need it. The SP1 beta has definitely given me a performance boost, for my Fujitsu Lifebook T-series. Granted I shoe-horned Vista onto this system, before I got the proper drivers from Fujitsu and it really wasn’t running all that well until I got those drivers. But still it was pretty slow. So I’m saying Microsoft needs to fastrack SP2, once SP1 is gold.

Three. A UMPC that does everything for under a grand. I don’t travel as much as I’d like to, but when I do I still need to keep tabs on what’s going on with my network and servers. A UMPC would be perfect for this only the limitations here and there really do. Which leads me too…

Four. A corporate friendly iPhone-type thing. The iPhone would be fine, only it doesn’t have the special corporate magic that Blackberry and Windows Mobile has. I’m not so fond of the software keyboard versus a real keyboard. I have the Verizon XV6700 right now. It was a fine phone 2 years ago. It’s saved my bacon on more then a few occasions, especially with the mobile Logmein client installed.

Right now I’m looking at getting the HTC Tilt, the only downside to that is it’s on AT&T’s network. It’s always hard to decided which corporate entity I find more difficult to work with. A clear toss up between Verizon my personal account and AT&T which we use at work.

All the iPhone really needs is a slide-out keyboard, a license for Microsoft’s Direct-Push technology and the Blackberry app and they you have a nearly perfect situation.

That said Windows Mobile only needs a better media player experience, bigger storage and for the love of all that is good in the world a decent Internet browser.

Now a lot of people will suggest they only want a device that will do one thing very well, not one thing that does 5-25 things sorta well. PDA phones are generally great PDAs for mail, and quick and dirty e-mail, but not so great as just phones. Even the iPhone has this said about it’s immaculate self.

Five. USB cords that do everything. Sure it’s fine that you can connect USB for hard drives, input devices, printers, cameras, the list goes on. But some clever folks are working on a video over USB spec, and still another wants to replace HDMI for HDTVs, etc with USB. Bring it on, I say. Fewer standards in Audio/Video and computer realm is a good thing and USB is just as good as any of them.

Six. 4 Gigabit Ethernet. You read that right: eff oh you are.  Four times what the standard is now for desktops.

Seven. Smart Clothes. Sure you have Scottevest, with it’s sophisticated pockets, straps, etc, but the mainstream companies need to realize we’re all carrying a lot of gadgets these days, PDAs, phones, media players. The list goes on.

Eight. OEMs and Vista. I know everyone seems to be taking potshots at Vista. It’s schadenfreude for sure. It seems PC World agrees with me the Macbook runs Vista faster then 99% of the competition. Since we know Apple is making a very healthy profit on every metal box, I really can’t understand why HP, Dell and Sony can’t get there systems into graceful harmony with a reasonable profit.

I’ve rewritten this entry a few times. The problem is I’ve already said goodbye to Pat, even though I prayed he’d get better. I felt the moment I read the word "cancer" it wouldn’t be long for Pat.

He moved on from this world into whatever awaits us all next on the 20th of October. I keep telling myself our’s was a relationship of my past. We went down different roads in life and for whatever reason decided not to stay in touch. It was both our faults and neither. As is common. Too common unfortunately. But the memories of years long past keep trickling in and I don’t know what to do with them.

This morning it was a memory of sitting across from Pat and Todd at the Roy Rogers on Falls Road. This was as far as I could tell Todd’s favorite place to eat. In fact, we used to joke about if you didn’t know where Todd was the Roy Rogers was the place to find him. Anyway, Pat and Todd sitting across from me, trying to imitate my voice. Stumbling at it, really. Like a car engine trying to turnover. I think people  back then (and perhaps still) would have a more unkind way to suggest I had a way with words. Many people decided they did or didn’t like me based on what I said or didn’t say. The truth is I really enjoyed their company more then I probably let on. And they probably tolerated mine more then they wanted to.

When I think of Ray Charles, I don’t remember that he passed on a few years ago. I said at the time I read the news of his death, that I couldn’t imagine him not being alive, because every image or video or recording I experienced was that Mr. Charles was more alive then anyone I have ever known. Pat is like that in my head. Still alive. It’s like everyday I have this big goofball, calling me "Manatee Boy" for reasons make no sense, but did to Pat. When asked Pat would say it’s because I was from Florida. You see it now right? Manatees live in Florida. I’m from Florida. Ergo, Manatee Boy.  It’s not everyday you get to show someone what kind of impact they had on your life. I got that chance many months ago here.

I don’t know if Pat was happy in life. I hope in his all too short of time, Pat felt love, caring and respect. My heart goes out to his wife and children, whom I’ve never met.

Cheers to Kel for keeping me in the "loop" on this.

First, none of these went particularly easy. I was impressed however what did go well. Hardware I’d previously had issues with installing under Windows XP went very well under Vista. Secondly I appreciate the effort Microsoft put into it’s User Account Control system. As an IT director any assistance on holding the integrity of a network is very welcome. As an end-user on Vista this is highly annoying. Similar to Unix systems this is the technological equivilant of asking “mother may I” for any and all system changes. Having to ask permission to change my systems settings 20 times a day is intolerable. So I’ve turned it off. But again this is a very nice and perhaps even essential for any Systems Administrators.

Buying a system with Vista pre-installed isn’t a walk in the park either. A new Sony Viao gave me a BSOD in the middle of it’s own Sony preset setup, only by un-installing Norton Anti-virus (which came pre-installed on the system) in “Safe Mode” was I able to clear up that little issue. Still later I plug in a USB printer and get yet another BSOD. Only by deleting the existing printer instance and re-plugging the printer in and letting Vista handle the install was I able to clear this up. Still I have a weary eye on it.

The Belkin Easy Transfer Cable, however, is very easy to use and I haven’t experienced any problems transferring the settings and files from an older computer to a new one. Even Vista to Vista transfers are efficient and clean. It’s well worth the $40 to save you the trouble of transferring this stuff manually.

Some quick advice:
1. Reading the documentation from your hardware vendor regarding all things Vista.
2. Get all the Vista drivers for your computer. Put these drivers on an external drive a USB flash drive is perfect for this.
3. Un-install third party applications especially your virus scanner, If your application was built by Adobe or Microsoft safe bet is they will work perfectly fine. Provided you’ve been keeping them up to date.
4. Do a backup of you system (Always important). I use the backup that comes with Windows XP/2003 all the time no reason to buy anything else.

Installing XP in the early days had many of the same issues, I can’t lay the blame of these install difficulties on Microsoft’s large feet alone. OEMs definitely share the blame here. Sony in particular has been a great problem.

My recommendation to anyone who has a “Windows Vista Capable” system is stick with XP unless you’re sick of looking at it or you have a lot of patience or you have me as a friend (cause I’m always eager to lend a helping hand or brain in this case).

There’s nothing wrong with XP per se you can stick with it for now without ill-effect on your computing needs. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met that are utterly content with Windows 2000. It’s surprising to me really. Windows 2000 was a monumental step in the right direction for Microsoft to be sure. But by 2003 it was pretty long in the tooth. The same is true of XP (released in 2003) it’s worn out it’s welcome about the middle of 2006. Vista is rough at the moment, but by the end of 2008, it will be matured and commonplace as XP is today.